（ one cannot just ask a god of death if they're religious. ichigo seems to consider that for a long moment, switching his mug of hot tea from one hand to the other in a restless shift of motion that seems to have more to do with finding something to do with his hands than the mug being overly warm. ）

Most people in Japan are raised with Buddhist and Shintoist beliefs. You could say I'm religious, but it's not exactly something I follow strongly. It's mostly just something you worry about for funerary rights and certain holidays.

（ life and death have always had strange overlap for him, well before he ever felt the cold press of rukia's blade at his chest. ）

But the idea of a reincarnation cycle is pretty normal in Buddhism. I guess that's not so weird to me.