Meaning: Electrifying Fifty Storms

Standing 6’2 and weighing roughly around 185lbs, Denki is a fairly average looking man. His eyes are amber and his hair medium brown, the latter of which is partly spiky in some areas but mostly falls naturally down his long face. It is mostly unkept until he needs it not to be and falls all the way down to his shoulder. Sometimes he will tie it up in a small ponytail, but for the most part, Denki lets it naturally fall whenever it may. Denki is a lean man, built like someone who doesn’t conscious condition his body, but from all of the running he does due to the hazard of his side hustle, his habit of getting into fights, and basically everything else he does that involves heavy lifting, Denki manages to keep himself in tip, top shape.

Denki is flashy and maybe that puts a target on his back, but he’s known for wearing a sort of trademark red shihakusho-like outfit comprising of a red top and a black bottom (though it might be just a dark shade of brown).

Denki Igarashi is anything but ordinary. There are two sides to this man: the calm and the storm. The calm is what everyone sees upon first meeting and the storm is what they see when they trigger something in him. Both could be unpleasant depending on who they are, but only one is dangerous.

An all around positive individual, Denki is a fun time and a half to be around. He’s full of energy and life that when someone is around him, depending on how they receive his brand of liveliness, he’ll either be their favorite person or be on their most-hated list. Likewise, that energy and fun-loving side could also lead down a mischievous and general lack of respect for authority, which is ironic since he became a soul reaper. He avoids his problems like the plague and sometimes that also means responsibility. There’s a certain laziness to this man, which further ties into his natural electricity and fondness to have fun all the time.

He is also extremely cunning and has been shown to manipulate people for his needs. This comes in many forms. He generally doesn’t use his cunning for evil, but it does have a selfish origin. Having to survive in some harsher Rukon districts, Denki learned that he had to be a step ahead of the game. His more-than-average perception came into play here long before he used it to its full effectiveness. He observed those around him and used it to his advantage. Sometimes he went a bit far with it and landed himself into hot water, so any chance he could think of getting out of it, he did.

But when push comes to shove, Denki doesn’t hesitate to get his revenge. His thirst for battle and natural affinity for trouble (whether he willingly creates it or not) is a no-brainer for a future Squad 11 member. He loves everything about battle, but he does have a temper. Anger him in one of the few ways that you can and you might understand why they call him The Unlucky. It’s not just about him - but those who fight him tend to be unlucky, as well.

A wasteland that had the ruins of a once thriving civilization was now plagued by an ever-present, nonstop thunderstorm, the likes that would only be found at the top of an active volcano. The sounds of a terrible cull, high-pitched roar from the clouds above penetrate even the deafest of ears. Lightning strikes at all parts, shattering rock, ridding decaying mountains of their tops that are immediately regenerated as though a twisted circle of life is ever-present in this place.

The sounds of terrible rolling thunder echo like a firm reminder that there is no calm before the storm - not here. Not in Akuraicho's domain.

And the mixture of terror and death, the very essence of the storm, persists, echoing the name "Denki..." in such a deep baritone voice, yet go unanswered. "Denki...You are too weak." There it was again, though this time more concise. Clearer in a way that the words would reach who they were meant for, yet as time passed, nobody by the name of Denki answered.

And thus the storm remained. It continued on, ravaging the land in a vicious cycle until that which destroyed all could finally be acknowledged by the one he called out to. Until Denki Igarashi could hear Akuraicho's summons.

---

Life for Denki Igarashi, for several years, had been one of mystery and lapses in his memory up until a certain point. Every so often when he would sleep, he’d see images of something that haunted his mind after waking. Images of a monster calling out to him. Images of thunder and lightning reaking havoc on a land that was both completely unknown to him, while at the same time, eerily familiar.

Strange, isn’t it? How could he know what it was if he had not been there before?

This became a rather recurring theme for Denki as he traveled from one Rukon District to the other. He originally found his home in the North, but trouble followed Denki Igarashi like that dream. Or would be it be appropriate to call it a vision? It followed him regardless and followed him it did. Like a cloud of misfortune. Whether north, south, east, or west, peaceful district or in the rather violent and aggressive district of Zaraki, Denki always found himself into trouble. Some might say the name Denki Igarashi was bad luck because he always found himself into situations that, aside from him stating otherwise, became as bad as they were because of his own doing.

To most, Denki is a victim of his own making, but to him, he’s just really popular.

Indeed. Denki takes all this supposed bad luck, smear campaigns of his name, and the eventual confrontations that lead to either terrible beatdowns of this raven-haired freeloader (not his words), with the tiniest grain of salt. It’s all overhyped. Who cared if Denki scammed people out of their yen or used the handy dandy five-finger discount on certain venders in some districts. Or maybe he pisses off a gang or two to the point where there was a bounty put out on him right down to a picture too.

And guess what! The picture…poster…whatever you want to call it was in color and even had descriptors. Gotta hand it to these gangs: they’re well-connected.

-average height
-black hair. Long
-wears red on his robe

They didn’t get a flattering drawing of his face, but when Denki first saw it, even he had to admit “damn, they really do love me!”

Of course they didn’t, but Denki couldn’t help but laugh about it.

That was, at least, until they found him.

At first they were angry and rightfully so. This was a local gang in this south rukon district that Denki owed some money to. They demanded he pay them back in full (plus interest).

Now this wouldn’t be such a bad demand. Denki wasn’t so full of himself (he was) to say that they weren’t making fair demands (they definitely weren’t). But he had to be smart about this. He had their money on him, but there was a moral dilemma he was fighting with. They wouldn’t spend it like it should. Sake and women were probably what these ogres would spend it on. But if he didn’t give them their money, odds were they’d beat him until they punched it out of him like some pinata.

Neither option seemed preferable.

So cunning Denki looked around momentarily.

And wow oh wow, the luck of the moment. He saw someone who had dark hair, red on his robe, and was of equal height. He had an idea at that moment: to use his guile and manipulate these idiots, stating “I’m not the man you want! He is!” and he promptly pointed to the man walking in the opposite direction.

And guess what? They fell for it!

And proceeded to start to beat the crap out of the man that looked a lot like Denki. Almost crazily so. As they did that, Denki had another moral dilemma. He had lied to those idiots and said he wasn’t Denki Igarashi. Obviously he was, but with that coincidental lookalike of his, it was too easy, but now he was facing the wrath of something that was the consequence of something he did.

Not that he felt exceptionally guilty about it, but Denki was jealous of some of the action. He wanted to fight but not lose his money. Plus there wa something that he couldn’t explain, but this other man felt…familiar.

So in a classic move that would, though he didn’t know it at this time, be replicated multiple times, Denki joined the fight with this other man, easily fending off the men with someone who would much later become his other half. A true kindred spirit.

“Denki’s the name.”

And that would be the start of one of the closest friendships Denki would have. He just didn’t know it at the time.

The inner world of Akuraicho is a barren wasteland with ruins of a lost kingdom that could be implied it was once glorious spread across the many miles of the land. Mountain ranges surround it. It is plagued by a massive, red and orange-hued thunderstorm, with around-the-clock rolling thunder and lightning flashing, roars of Akuraicho filling the air, and then lightning crashing to the ground -- all of which happens every 12 seconds, with each one happening consecutively every three seconds.

Akuraicho is a zanpakuto who takes two forms. In his dreams long ago, Denki saw Akuraicho as the bringer of storms that he was, the literal storm that lived inside of Denki’s soul. Powerful and mighty, the monstrous form that Denki first witnesses was an anomaly because what he first saw was a thunder cloud, red, orange, and black, lightning striking the barren wasteland below and with a roar so loud that Denki swore it disrupted the heavens themselves. But when he spoke to him, his voice echoed like a titan, slow but powerful. In this form he is easily the most intimidating. His whole form was of cloud, lightning-shaped like a falcon in every way possible.

But in more recent times, as Denki himself became well adjusted, became centered, the beast he first met was no more -- or at least, the beast that was felt unnecessary for Akuraicho to show. In the beast’s stead was a man no taller than Denki nor heavier. He had pale skin, silver hair, and blue eyes. He wore a red trenchcoat that somehow mirrored the deep crimson hue of his avian-like form, and black pants.