"Don't give me that look," Ichigo said, not looking all too intimidated. "See, Chad and I are buddies. At least, sort of. He's not the Chad I know, but he's close enough, and the Chad I do know I have a deal with. So if he commits himself to something, then I have to back him up."

He reached up to rub the back of his neck as if the muscles were sore from a long day's... lazing about. "It'd be a nuisance having to run you around town and then things would just get messy."