Valentina hummed a tune as she walked up the stairs to Yasutora's apartment. Her cousin had briefly parted ways with his friends so he could take a taxi back to his place with his cousin in tow. He wanted to give Valentina the chance to unpack and change out of her travel clothes, though to get her to agree to do any of that he had had to promise that he would do his best to fulfill her earlier demands of alcohol, food and the company of his friends, even if it would all be delayed slightly. Chad knew better than anyone that if Valentina wanted something, she would get it one way or another, so it was easier to just give into her demands, as trivial as they could be at times.

Chad leisurely followed behind Valentina, carrying the countless suitcases she had made him pick up for her at the baggage claim, as well as her rolling carry-on bag, with very little effort. Why Valentina needed so much luggage, he would never know. Once the brown skinned woman reached the door to his apartment, she waited impatiently for Chad to catch up with her, tapping her foot on the cement floor of his apartment building's second level and clicking her expensive heels incessantly, but that didn't make Yasutora go any faster. If she wanted him to carry all her bags, then he was going to go at his own pace. He arrived at the door seconds later, sat down all the bags (gently, so Valentina wouldn't get mad at him for ruining her stuff), and pulled out his key to unlock the door. Once the door was open, Valentina wasted no time rushing in and taking in his abode.

"It's not ideal, but I can make it work.", Valentina commented as she took in the odd mix of Japanese and Mexican cultural elements in the apartment. Chad knew that was the closest thing to a compliment he was going to get from Valentina about his house. The amber eyed woman quickly started helping Chad carry her bags into the apartment and into the guest room down the hall. The only reason Chad had rented a two room apartment (despite the fact it was more expensive than a one room) when he came to Karakura was so Valentina would have a room to stay in on the off chance she decided to come for a visit. This was the first time the guest room was being used for its intended purpose.

After all the bags were in her room, Valentina quickly started unpacking. She placed her neatly folded designer clothes in the drawers of the small dresser the room had, and lined up her designer shoes in another one of the drawers. Valentina had always had a taste for the finer things in life, even when she was a young tomboy in a dusty old Mexican town in the middle of nowhere. That being said, Chad knew Valentina hadn't been left enough money from her parents or Abuelo to afford all those nice clothes, so Chad didn't know how she got them. But as he had said, when Valentina wanted something, she got it. Regardless of how feasible it was. Chad watched from the open doorway as Valentina silently unpacked, before his cousin broke the silence with a sigh.

"Are you just going to stand there staring, or are you going to actually talk to me? I thought you knew how to use your words, Yasutora.", Valentina asked. Chad sighed as well.

"I'm sorry, I just… Well, I don't really know what to say to you. It's really been a year, hasn't it? Since I last saw you?", Chad said in a musing sort of way.

This was the first conversation he had really had with his cousin since getting involved with the Soul Society, and it showed. While Chad loved Valentina more than anything as his last remaining relative and the closest thing he had ever had to an older sister, he also wasn't sure how to talk to her anymore. So much of his life had been consumed by the dead, and even though Valentina could see spirits now (she had proven that with Yumichika at the airport), it was like she was a world apart from him. He wasn't the Yasutora she had grown up getting into trouble with anymore, not entirely. He was Chad, a human boy with Hollow-like powers that lived in Japan, and she was Valentina, a college student with no powers to speak of who lived in Mexico. The gap between them was wide, though Chad hoped it wasn't impossible for them to cross. Valentina nodded in response to her cousin's words.

"Yeah, it's been a while. I'd ask the expected questions of 'how are you doing in school' or 'have you made any new friends lately', but we both know that would just be pointless small talk, so let's cut right to the chase; what happened to you, Yasutora?", Valentina asked, her amber eyes seeming to stare into his very soul with calculating concern, all of the excited and flighty behavior she had exhibited in the airport vanishing into thin air. Chad shifted nervously.

"I don't know what you're talking about.", he lied. He knew damn well what Valentina was talking about, he just didn't want to admit it. But Valentina had always been damningly perceptive, so she didn't let the subject go.

"Don't lie to me. Months ago, you didn't pick up any of my calls for two weeks, and then you suddenly started answering again, and it was like some monumental event had occurred that you never told me about. You're different from the last time I saw you. I can't put my finger on it, but you're different. You've changed Yasutora, and what frustrates me the most is that I don't know why.", Valentina admitted. The two weeks she was referring to was the time Chad spent in Soul Society trying to save Rukia from execution with Ichigo, but she didn't know that.

Valentina was at a loss. After Chad left Mexico, he would call her every few days so they could check up on each other. They would keep up with each other's lives, exchange jokes and laugh like they were still kids in their hometown of San Angel. But around six months ago, Chad started acting different. He didn't speak as freely about his personal life as he used to, and on the rare occasion he talked about some significant personal event he always seemed so tense and hesitant, as if he was trying not to say something he shouldn't. Valentina was a perceptive person, so none of this escaped her notice, but she never brought any of it up with her cousin. She didn't want to have an in-depth conversation about whatever secret stuff he had gotten involved with over the phone. It was actually part of the reason she had taken the time out of her busy schedule as a dance student to come and visit him. Chad gave his cousin a long-suffering look and coupled it with a heavy sigh

"I know, and I wish I could tell you, but it… it's complicated and hard to understand- ", Chad started to say, and that time he was telling the truth. How do you explain to someone that the world as they know it is a very different place than how they grew up perceiving it? That was a question no one in Chad's group of spiritually-empowered human friends had an answer to. It was why Tatsuki and all their other human friends were still in the dark about their powers and the things related to them. Valentina gave her cousin a pleading look.

"Then help me understand! Please, Yasutora! Everytime I call you, I don't know what it is, but it's like you've got the weight of the world resting on your shoulders and I can see it's crushing you. You're strong primo, you're the strongest man I know, but you aren't invincible. Even the greatest men need someone to rely on. Whatever burden that's weighing down on you, that I can hear in your voice whenever you speak, share it with me. Let me lighten your load. We're familia, right? Shouldn't we ought to help each other?", Valentina asked, a hopeful smile on her face.

It took everything Chad had not to start crying and tell his beloved prima about everything he had been through, but when he remembered the pain Aizen's Arrancar henchmen put him and his friends through with barely any effort, he was able to remain strong. He would not endanger his cousin by revealing the existence of spirit beings to her, because knowing Valentina, she would insist on staying to help him in his hour of need, regardless of how dangerous it would be for her. That was just the kind of selfless person she was. Always willing to help others even when she didn't have any real reason to do so. So, with a heavy heart, Chad shook his head and looked away from his cousin.

"I'm sorry, but I can't.", he said with audible remorse. Valentina's smile dropped and she gave him a despairing look.

"Things used to be different between us, Yasutora. We had no secrets. We used to tell each other everything, and now… now I don't know who you are anymore, or even how you became who you are now. I know we have our differences, especially in regards to Abuelo's wishes for us and the matter of how we should use our strength, but… you will always be my cousin Yasutora-no, my brother. I love you, and I'll be there for you if you need me. Regardless of whether I'm here in Japan or halfway across the world in Mexico. I'll be there for you, I promise.", Valentina vowed, and Chad could feel his throat closing with emotion.

"... Thank you.", Chad said sincerely. Valentina gave him a sad smile. She had no idea what was plaguing her cousin, but it was nice to know that he still cared deeply about her and appreciated her offer. Perhaps they hadn't grown as apart as she had feared.

"You're welcome.", Valentina responded before she went back to unpacking, and Chad remembered that he had yet to ask his cousin why she had come to visit him in the first place. The question had been on his mind for a while, since Valentina wasn't on any sort of school break as far as he was aware and therefore shouldn't have had the time to visit in the first place without risking expulsion because of excessive absences. So to rectify that situation, Chad did just that.

"By the way, Valentina?", Chad said inquiringly. Valentina hummed to show she was listening despite not looking at him as she continued to unpack, and Chad continued with his questioning.

"I've been meaning to ask; why are you visiting now of all times? It's not Christmas, and as far as I'm aware, your school isn't on break right now. So how were you able to come here without worrying about getting expelled?", Chad asked. Valentina chuckled.

"To be perfectly honest, this entire situation was happenstance. Back at college, the dorms had a building inspection, and it was discovered that there was lead in the pipes. Thankfully, no one was harmed by it since we're all college students, which means we survive solely on a diet redbull and sheer willpower because water is for pussies, so the school just kind of gave us two weeks off so they could deal with the pipe situation and quietly bribed several students with plane tickets to anywhere if they had family out of the country so they wouldn't tell the general public about what had happened. Hence why I'm here despite everything.", Valentina explained. Chad blinked at the very strange sounding explanation, before sighing.

"That's a very unusual and specific situation, that of course you found yourself in because of your terrible luck. I honestly shouldn't be surprised.", Chad observed. Valentina laughed.

"Correct, primo. Now fetch me alcohol and drinking buddies. I need to numb my senses for a while so I can get over this dreadful jetlag, and it's sad to drink alone. It makes me feel like a forty year old, washed up alcoholic divorcee who's behind on child support.", Valentina said as she entirely finished her unpacking by pulling her expensive makeup out of a small black bag and setting it on the nearby bedside table. Her once serious and concerned demeanor was gone, replaced entirely by the cheerful persona she displayed in the airport as her smile returned. Chad blinked slowly at the woman's strange words.

"That's an odd analogy. But I can't do that first thing, because I'm too young to buy alcohol, and so are you. Also you're not alone, you have me.", Chad pointed out. Valentina scoffed.

"Bah! Who cares about what's legal or illegal? We did way worse back in Mexico. Besides, you and I both look at least twenty. Plus if we use those fake ID's I had my friend Jose make for me before I left- ", Valentina started to plot, but Chad gave her a stern look.

"No.", he said firmly, unwilling to break the law with the practiced ease his cousin was able to. Valentina gave him a dry look.

" … You're no fun.", she told him grudgingly. Chad's stern gaze didn't waver. Then he had an idea. Whether or not it was a good one remained to be seen.

"If you want alcohol, I can't buy it for you, but I can take you to someone who would be willing to host you and share their liquor.", Chad started to offer, and immediately he began to wonder if this was a bad idea, before squashing those thoughts down. Valentina would raise hell if she didn't get what she asked for, and it wasn't like the people he was taking her to would purposefully jeopardize her in any way. If anything, she was safest with them. Valentina raised an eyebrow at her cousin.

"And who would this person be?", she inquired curiously.

"A friend of mine you didn't get the chance to meet at the airport. His name is Kisuke Urahara."

—-

After a bit of back and forth with her cousin about who Kisuke Urahara was ("he's a guy that owns a shop me and my friends frequent. He's a kind man, if a bit eccentric. You'll like him.") and why she should go harass the poor man for alcohol, Valentina had agreed to do as Chad suggested and go meet his shop-owner friend. After changing out of her travel clothes and into her usual outfit of a leather jacket with yellow and orange marigold designs she had embroidered herself on it, a black t-shirt with a white, orange and yellow Mexican skull on the front, and a pair of black leggings as well as a pair of black converse, Valentina had started walking with Chad in comfortable silence to the Urahara Shop.

When they arrived, they were greeted at the door by a muscular man with the largest handlebar mustache Valentina had ever seen, a scrawny red-haired kid with attitude, and a shy looking girl with pigtails that the kid with attitude was bullying. It was quite the sight, to say the least. Valentina had been unsure how to respond until another person showed up at the door. He was a scruffy looking blonde man in a white and green candy cane striped bucket hat that cast a shadow over his eyes, with a white foldable fan in his hand, wearing clothes Valentina could only describe as pajamas. Correctly assuming that the man was Kisuke Urahara, Valentina went to greet him in the hopes of making a good impression so she could easily score her coveted booze, but when she finally caught sight of Urahara's steely gray eyes she stopped in her tracks.

Those eyes… they did not match the man attached to them. They were calculating and analytical. They looked at everyone around them like they were valuable assets, not people. They were unsettling, and Valentina resolved right then and there to never fully trust Kisuke Urahara. But to keep face, she smiled and continued with her introduction regardless of the sinking feeling she had in her chest.

"Hola, senor. My name is Valentina de la Rosa. I'm Yasutora's cousin.", Valentina said, throwing in some unnecessary but universally known Spanish so she could lay the Latin charm on thick. Urahara grinned at her and waved his fan faster than he had been waving it before, and that appraising glint in his eyes grew brighter. Valentina resisted the urge to shutter.

"Chad's cousin, eh? Well then, it's wonderful to meet a lovely lady such as yourself. Care to join me and my other guest for some drinks and conversation?", Urahara offered, saying exactly what Valentina had wanted him to say, like he had known her plans all along. It was such a trivial thing, but it just unsettled Valentina more. Valentina, unwilling to walk away from this off-putting experience without getting what she wanted, nodded in response to Urahara's offer.

"Of course."

And that was how Valentina ended up in the sitting room of one Kisuke Urahara, sipping on a glass of 'whatever passed for alcohol around here' in her own words, and chatting animatedly with the owner of the home she was in, as well as Renji, who just so happened to be staying with Urahara when Valentina showed up, and was more than willing to indulge with minimal prompting. Chad was elsewhere doing whatever it was he did, and had said he would be back in a few hours to pick up Valentina's likely wasted self. Tessai (handlebar mustache guy) was off doing duties for the shop and making sure the two children, Jinta and Ururu, didn't make any trouble for 'the bosses guests'. Urahara laughed at the story Valentina was in the midst of telling her about her and Chad's childhood in Mexico.

"So let me get this straight… you and Chad actually led a stampede of pigs through your hometown when you were kids?", Renji asked in disbelief, being the only one present at the table collected enough to ask any questions. Valentina had quickly discovered that Renji was much less unsettling company than Urahara, and since he was the only person in the little shop that didn't answer to the off-putting owner, that automatically made him Valentina's preferred conversationalist. Valentina nodded.

"Yep. Well, it was more me leading the stampede. Yasutora, like he always did back then, just did whatever I did because he wanted to be like me. So when I said we were going to unlock the gate to the butcher's pig pen to save the pigs, he went along with it. Our Abuelo, as always, was more exasperated than upset. He didn't punish us, he never did when we got up to no good. Hell, he even let us keep one of the pigs as a pet. We named him Chewy. He died shortly after our Abuelo did.", Valentina said, finishing her story with a fond smile. Chewy was a good pet who lived a long life (for a pig). Renji shook his head, in awe of Valentina's story. He had gotten up to some mischief during his days in the Rukongai, but he never did anything as wild as causing a pig stampede.

"I never knew Chad was such a wild child. He seems so calm and put-together.", Urahara remarked as he poured himself another glass of sake. Valentina downed more of her poison of choice and got ready to keep the conversation going. She knew it was just childhood stories that didn't hurt anyone to tell, but Valentina didn't like giving Urahare information about herself. It felt like he was memorizing her every word in case he could use it against her at a later date, and she hated it. But it would look weird if she didn't respond, so she ignored her better judgment and spoke.

"Well, like I said, Yasutora did whatever I did because he wanted to be like me. Even if it wasn't necessarily a good thing to do. By the way, I've been meaning to ask, why do you all call him Chad? Of all the nicknames I expected people here to call him, Chad was not one of them.", Valentina asked. Both Renji and Urahara seemed to be at a loss, but Urahara responded to her regardless.

"We don't know. Ichigo just always called him that so we assumed that was his name. Honestly half of us didn't even know his real name was Yasutora until you started referring to him by that.", Kisuke answered as he fanned himself with his paper fan. Valentina raised an eyebrow at him.

"Were you one of those people?", Valentina asked. Kisuke remained silent for a moment.

"... Maybe.", he admitted reluctantly. Valentina sighed.

"I can't say I entirely blame you, then. Yasutora isn't one to correct people over trivialities such as names, not to mention the name Chad definitely suits him. Though for what reason, I can't put my finger on. Perhaps because it helps symbolize how he changed from how he was in Mexico.", Valentina mused. Renji looked at her with renewed interest.

"You mean Chad wasn't always… Chad?", Renji asked, struggling with how to phrase his question. Valentina chuckled and shook her head.

"Oh no. The boy you know now, Chad, and the boy I grew up with in Mexico, Yasutora, are almost two entirely different people. Whereas the young man you've known has always been mindful of others and his great strength, the young man I knew was the exact opposite.", Valentina revealed. She glanced at Urahara, who was listening to her intently. She didn't want to pour her heart and life story out for a man far too observant for his own good to hear, but… she needed to do this, for her own sake, regardless of who heard. She needed to talk about it. The alcohol had made her sentimental, and if she didn't talk to someone about her fraught past, she felt like she would go insane. Besides, it wasn't like anything she was about to reveal could really be used against her. To her, her past was no secret, just not something she tended to freely converse about. So, downing the rest of her liquid courage, Valentina began her story.

"I don't know if Yasutora told you this, but my parents were killed in a house fire when I was a baby. I only survived because my nursery was on the first floor of the house, which made it possible for the firefighters to get to me before the flames or the smoke did. My parents were on the second floor though, and by the time the fire fighters had managed to save me… the house had collapsed in on itself.", Valentina started, trying not to choke on her own words as she recounted her life's tragic beginning.

The woman's throat went dry as she told the story about one of the most monumental and tragic events in her life. A story she had to be told second hand by her Abuelo because she was too young to remember any of it. The story of how she became an orphan at four months old. Her parents had always been a sore spot for her. She had never gotten the chance to know Maria and Alejandro de la Rosa, but that didn't mean she didn't miss them in her own way. That didn't mean she didn't mourn their absence. Renji's gaze became sympathetic, and Urahara's eyes became even more analytical. Regardless of all of this, Valentina soldered on and continued the story with a hissing breath.

"Soon after the death of my parents, my paternal aunt Dolores flew out to Mexico with her Japanese husband Daichi to attend the funeral and exercised her right as my next of kin to take me back to Japan with them when they left. For the first decade and change of my life, they were essentially my parents. And because of them, I spent more than half my childhood in Japan. It's why I know the language so well. I spent the first eleven years of my life with my aunt and uncle in Okinawa. They were good people. Kind, strong souls… just like their son. Yasutora was born three years after I was taken to Okinawa, so he was raised with me for his entire childhood. He saw me as his big sister. Hell, I think he genuinely believed I was his big sister for a while until his parents corrected him at some point. I love Yasuotra, and he loves me. Even when we had no one else, we had always had each other. We were thick as thieves.", Valentina said with a nostalgic smile, but it quickly turned to a frown.

"But then Yasutora lost his parents like I lost mine when he was eight. They hit a lamppost while driving back from a night out together, and that was that. After that, our Abuelo took us in. He brought us back home with him to Mexico, to the small desert town of San Angel, where he grew up. Abuelo was a kind, soft-spoken man, who believed words could do more than fists. He tried his best to help me and Yasutora through the grief we were experiencing, but in the end nothing he could do seemed to make the pain go away entirely. Those early teenage years in Mexico were dark times for me and Yasutora. We were rebellious teenagers feeling all sorts of emotions; grief at losing our parents, anger at adults and children alike for not understanding, and displacement and being forced to make a home in a place where we had only spent a handful of summers before. It wasn't a fun time, to say the least, and all these emotions caused us to lash out.", Valentina continued, a dark look on her face.

"We raised hell in San Angel, so everyone would suffer like we were suffering. No one was safe from the wrath of Los Primos Bestiales; the Beastly Cousins. That's what everyone back in San Angel called us, because that's what we were to them. We were beasts, inhuman beings that did nothing but cause trouble for everyone around them. We were, for lack of a better word, delinquents. We vandalized buildings, picked fights with other children and a few adults, and we even stole a few times. The police were too terrified of us to do anything. They probably thought we were involved with a street gang or something, but we weren't. We never crossed that line. We were both still terrible though, but I was the worst out of the two of us. I had a reputation for being so ruthless in fights, that I could send grown men running with just a glare.", Valentina said severely, and Renji gave her an impressed look.

"You must have been pretty strong then.", Renji remarked. Valentina laughed humorlessly.

"'Pretty strong' is an understatement. I could punch holes in drywall and crack pavement with a hard kick. My strength was almost superhuman, and the people of San Angel feared it. So it really shouldn't have been surprising when they eventually decided enough was enough and took matters into their own hands.", Valentina said ominously, her amber eyes locked onto the bottom of her empty alcohol glass.

"The fathers of the boys me and Yasutora had beaten up, there were around nine or ten of them, decided that they were going to teach us a lesson. They were planning on jumping me and Yasutora so they could beat us, and teach us 'a lesson we would never forget' in their own words. But they couldn't find us, we had left town to go mess around in the desert, so they tracked down our Abuelo. They demanded to know where we were, but Abuelo refused to tell them. And when he kept refusing them, the men got mad and… they took their anger out on him.", Valentina continued, taking a shuddering breath as she did so.

"When we came home, we found Abuelo collapsed on the ground, beaten within an inch of his life. When we asked him what had happened, he just smiled at us and told us not to worry about it, but we saw right through him. We pressed him more, and eventually he told us the truth. Yasutora was horrified that he had indirectly caused this, and because of that, he finally started heeding Abuelo's teachings about how someone should only use their strength to protect others. I suppose that was the moment Yasutora became Chad. Me though? I took a different path.", Valentina said darkly. She finally looked up from her empty glass, and looked Renji dead in his enraptured eyes.

"I tracked down every single man that hurt my Abuelo, and I did what they did to him; I beat them within an inch of their lives. I broke bones, knocked out teeth, and bloodied faces. They were all in the hospital for months. When I came home the next day, covered in the blood of all the men I'd attacked, Abuelo wasn't mad. He wasn't even disappointed. He just asked me why I did it, why I didn't do what Yasutora did and learn to become more gentle from the experience. And you wanna know what I told him?", Valentina asked. It was a loaded question. When a few moments of tense silence passed, she gave a dark smirk.

"I told him I was too far gone to be like Yasutora. I couldn't just stop fighting like my cousin was. Fighting is a part of me, just like my heart or brain. I can't function without it in some capacity. You can take the warrior out of the fight, but you can't take the fight out of the warrior. That's just how it is. I did make my Abuelo one promise, however.", Valentina revealed. Renji was on the edge of his seat, his drink long forgotten.

"What was it?", he asked. Valentina's smirk turned into a nostalgic smile.

"I vowed that, while I would never fight strictly to protect others like Yasutora had promised to do, I would only seek conflict with the wicked. I vowed that I would only fight for the sake of enacting justice for those who couldn't do so themselves, and for the sake of those in need. I vowed that even if part of the reason why I fight is for the thrill… my intentions for fighting will always remain just.", Valentina continued passionately. She then raised up the gold coin attached to the chain around her neck for her company to see.

"Then he gave me and Yasutora matching coins, to commemorate our vows. Supposedly, they're even older than the conquistadors.", Valentina said as her golden dubloon-like coin glinted in the light. Both of the men at the table admired it, and Renji looked at her eagerly.

"And then what happened? Did you devote your life to following your vow and fighting evil, giving justice to the disenfranchised?", Renji asked, desperately wanting to know how this 'story' ended, like it was a good book and not his friend's cousin's life story. Valentina, much to Renji's surprise, burst out laughing.

"What?! Hell no! Do I look like Batman to you?! No, no, absolutely not. I love fighting, sure, but it doesn't pay the bills. After Abuelo passed away two years after we made our promises, me and Yasutora both left San Angel to do other things. He went to Japan to get back in touch with his roots, and I went to Mexico City to get a professional education as a dancer. I do still get into the occasional scrap every now and then, though, if only to keep my skills sharp. Though, I think it's started to have the unintended effect of making the local cartels think I'm some sort of criminal-targeting cryptid… which isn't entirely untrue, now that I think about it.", Valentina mused. Urahara looked mildly fearful, but Renji just looked confused.

"What's a cartel?", he asked. Valentina paused her musings and opened her mouth to answer his question, but she was interrupted when Renji gained a shocked expression and Urahara's gaze turned serious.

"It can't be… ", the redhead trailed off. Valentina was about to ask what was wrong when she felt something. An odd sensation overcame her entire body. It felt like the very air around her was being distorted. Valentina shivered slightly, and Renji looked at Urahara.

"Urahara-san- ", he started to say. Urahara was quick to cut him off.

"Go on Renji. I'll take care of our guest here until I can get in touch with Yumichika so he can come and escort her to safety.", Urahara said. Valentina was suddenly very confused.

"Take care of me? Escort me to safety? Renji, what the hell is going on?!", Valentina demanded to know, a scowl on her face. She didn't care how dangerous the situation she was in was or whether or not she should be afraid, she hated being left out of the loop. Renji gave her a stern look.

"There's no time to explain. Just stay inside and stick with Urahara-san.", Renji ordered, before he dashed out of the sitting room and out of the shop/house entirely. Valentina, not at all satisfied by that sorry excuse of an explanation, followed Renji to the door against Urahara's protests. What she saw there shocked her. Renji pulled what appeared to be a PEZ dispenser out of his pocket, popped a candy into his mouth, and then he shed his body like a snake skin, emerging clad in the same black robes she had seen Yumichika wearing earlier. Valentina was at a loss.

"What the hell is going on… ?", she muttered to herself, wondering if she was seeing things because of the alcohol.

'Nope. That weak shit was hardly enough to get me buzzed. So that means this is real… well fuck me sideways.', Valentina thought in shock and mild horror. Then black robes-Renji did something that very much defied the laws of physics by leaping into the fucking air and standing on it like it was solid ground. Valentina felt like she had finally lost it.

'On second thought, maybe that Urahara bastard put something in my drink. This shit is way too trippy to not be the product of a drug-induced hallucination… this is the last time I trust Yasutora's judgment on drinking buddies.'