[a pause. Ichigo abruptly stops drinking his cocoa and looks away for a moment before meeting Zecora's eyes]

Erasure. Reapers get these stupid arbitrary "points" depending on how many Players we harass or Erase, and the amount of points we have determines how long we continue to exist. If you just... totally refused, the higher-ups would probably Erase you on the spot. It's literally kill or be killed. [and he seems none too happy about it]