"This is the fucking afterlife. What a bummer, right?" the words still ringed in his ears.

"What a piece of shit," Sora muttered before drinking the last few drops of his sake.

"For your own safety, kid," the barkeeper said, "I hope you're not talking about the booze."

Sora put his glass down and looked at him. Yuzo, that was his name, was the short blind man who ran the tavern. He had been living, if he could still use that word, in this place for more than a hundred years. He had lost his sight before his death, so not only he was quite accustomed to his state, but his other senses had developed to compensate for it. After some work as a henchman, the first job most successful people in the outer districts took, he managed to save up enough money to open his famous tavern. Many people wondered about how come a single blind guy could run his own business safely in the seventy-eight district. Those people have never seen Yuzo wielding a lead pipe. Most of those who have usually need canes to walk properly.

"No, it's not that," Sora shook his head and pushed the glass towards the barkeeper. "It's just… This whole thing, this place… It's Rukongai, right? I never thought the afterlife would be like this. I mean, first some monster wants to eat me, then this guy hits me in the head with his sword and then I'm here!"

Yuzo smirked and refilled Sora's glass. The newcomer wasn't sure why had he came in. It might have something to do with the man offering him free drinks, or the fact that his brain still wouldn't take the whole dying business very well. Apparently the others weren't too surprised about a man popping out of nowhere in the middle of the street. Stiff like that tend to lose their charm when you see it happening everyday all around the city. Still, Yuzo couldn't help but feeling sorry for Sora, and so he decided to cover his tab for the day. Besides, Yuzo wouldn't admit it, but the kid seemed very promising. Guys like him get along well with the employees of these areas. Still, Sora was nothing but a newcomer, he needed some guidance.

"Okay, kid, let me break it up for you," Yuzo put down the glass he was cleaning and took a short stick, with which he began drawing circle in the dirt with surprising precision. "I'm only going to say this once; here's how it is so listen good."

And so, he began telling Sora all about the world he had arrived to. He began from the basics on souls. He told him about the plus, the hollow and the shinigami. Then, he moved onto Rukongai and Seireitei. If Sora had been a reaper then, he'd have felt a bit offended. Even so, he was drunk enough not to get the no-so-subtle shots he took at them. After a few hours, Sora was familiar with how this new world functioned and even knew a bit about the underworld that was the outer districts.

"So, that's the deal," Yuzo finished and went back to gleaning glasses. "Now the deal is what will be your part in all this?"

"Huh?" Sora gulped more booze before talking; surprisingly speaking quite well despite all the liquor he had in him. "What do you mean my part?"

"Well, this place is not paradise, as you might have seen," the man waved his hand at the tavern. "Everybody here survives by playing a role in this fucked up society we have here. You have to find your place here and deal with it."

Yuzo wiped the dust of his last mug and went to the back of the bar. After a few seconds he came back, wielding a large wooden club. For a moment Sora thought he was going to attack him and almost fell off his stool trying to get away, but the blind man just put the weapon in his hands.

"Here, take this," he said. "You can start as my bouncer. This place is getting too big for me to handle by myself, so I need someone else to take care of the security once in a while. I can only pay you with food and booze, though. You can sleep in the tables until you can find something better. Now go! I think I can hear a fight over there in that corner!"

"All right," Sora sighted, his brain numbed by the alcohol. "I guess I don't have too many options anyways, do I?"

The young man gripped the club with both hands and tried to hold it right. It was quite heavy and it could certainly do some damage if used right. It was a little too brutish for Sora's taste, but it'd have to do. He turned to the corned pointed by Yuzo. Just as he had said, two men were grabbing a man by his shoulders and slamming him against the table, while other two engaged in a drunken brawl, doing more damage to themselves than to their opponents. Sora sighted once again and pushed his way through the place. It was going to be a long night. By the end of it, Sora had knocked out five men, tossed three drunkards out of the building and broke a man's jaw with a wooden chair, which didn't came out of the encounter quite well either.

Time passed and; between brawls, broken bones, three broken clubs and dozens of hangovers; he started to get used to his new lifestyle. His hands forgot the feel of a camera and grew accustomed to the weight of the club. He lost the fear of hurting another person and found a sort of accomplishment in beating a gang of drunken troublemakers until they fell drooling on the wooden boards. However, the real change came a bit more than a month after his arrival. The day that followed his encounter with the shady-looking man would be one to set the course of his life in ways he would have never imagined.