It sounded a little bit like talking to one's zanpakuto, he supposed. They weren't shaped like their partners at all. Maybe it was less 'soul' than ... just an aspect of it? Ichigo pauses, and then rubs his face, the thoughts immediately hazing back over but this time he does his best to hang onto them. It might be important. It was important. Why was it so hard to think about anything but the dance?

"Sounds a little like something else." But if that's how they did it in .. 'greysol'. Maybe the spiritual world operated a little oddly. "It's gotta make having a dance harder out there." There, he'll just give into it for a moment, and nod towards the ongoing ball, because that's what really mattered, it was easier.

The question isn't how he knows Zangetsu, but how they know Zangetsu. "He's my sword. Most people don't know he's a he though, I'm kinda going to want to know how you do." Remember that 'roommates' thing?

It's hard to think.