All it takes to cause an avalanche is a pebble. All it takes to create a tsunami is a ripple.

And so it goes that the minute differences in detail bring about the biggest changes.

This isn't a story of the universe you're familiar with. This isn't a story of the Ikebukuro you know.

The characters you're accustomed to won't act as you're used to. Yet, if you peer down at them, you may find that at the core, they're the same.

Same souls, different casings. Same locations, different happenings.

Are you ready to take a ride down the rabbit hole?

It began like this:

Orihara Izaya leant against the second floor railings, overlooking the throngs of students milling around the courtyard. A smile curved his lips, knife sharp and thin. Nobody noticed him, because everybody has concerns on the ground, and not the sky.

(They would soon enough, though. Izaya never did like people ignoring him.)

Except:

Heiwajima Shizuo was starting his first day of high school. Already, his temper was aggravated by the whispers which followed his wake and the frightened gazes trailing after him. A counter hung above his head like a Sword of Damocles, ticking down the time until he would burst, until he would rage against the world that pushed him away and isolated him.

(But he understood why. The world wasn't ready for someone like Heiwajima Shizuo, for a monster. It made sense they would run away from him. He understood that, he really did…)

(It didn't make it hurt any less.)

And because he had enough concern on the ground—the rumours of his unnatural strength and short temper a drowning wave which he had no choice but to tide over—Heiwajima Shizuo looked up to the sky.

That was when he caught sight of Orihara Izaya.

Izaya did not notice him amongst the hundreds of students swarming the campus, but Shizuo noticed him. The way he leant against the railing, overlooking the mass from above like some sort of detached god. The curve of his lips which was a mockery of a smile. Heiwajima Shizuo noticed him and hated him immediately.

And yet…

As he moved on, trying his best to follow the crowd, Shizuo's gaze lingered a moment longer at the solitary figure. This one, he thought, stood apart, away from others, even as he gazes down on us as if we're ants in a glass box, even as he tried to mimic the mannerisms of a false god…

The bell rang. A warning. Shizuo hurried to his locker, but he spared a glanced at the single figure silhouetted against the blue sky in red and black. He wondered.

Can he be as lonely as me?