An:

My computer seems to think I spelled Izaya wrong… huh… ALSO! I can't stop listening to Limone's Izaya songs. They make me so unbelievably happy, which is kinda hard to do. Unless I get some ota merch.

It's the start of the story. In other words the Prologue.

Applause for the exit.

I wanted to change myself. Completely… so I started with my friends.

"I'm breaking up with you." I said before taking a sip of my milkshake. The three girls stopped their constant chatter and stared at me.

"Nani?" Kana looked at me. She was the leader of our little group. If she was pack leader I was the runt. Today was different, I would no longer be quiet little Rin, oppressed and ignored until convenient.

Her glare bore into my skull and made it hard to say what I really wanted to. That was her, worst friend and greatest enemy. She'd always been intimidating. Beautiful face with long brown hair and greenish eyes that invaded your brain and found your deepest insecurity. I had to throw away that fear to throw away that life.

"I'm no longer going to be your friend." I stared right back at her. The other two looked at each other and then back at me. "I'm leaving for Tokyo next week."

There was a pause.

"Because you got accepted into Tokyo-U right?" Shiori, Kana's right hand, asked. She wasn't anything more than a cheap copy of Kana, except with tacky red hair instead of brown.

"No. That's not the reason." It was true that I got accepted, but that wasn't why I was going.

"Did you fall in love with someone from Tokyo?" Mugi asked. She was too stupid to go into detail about, or even answer for that matter. She was the lowest in our pack, excluding me.

"I'm leaving to start a new life. As you know, my parents said they would give me 85000 yen if I graduated top of my class. I did. So, I'm leaving for Tokyo in order to start a new life away from you abusive bitches." I started to get up.

"Wait! Uh, hey, Rin-chan lets talk this over." Shiori started, she was waving her arms back and forth in an attempt to calm me down. "You can buy us some smoothies and we c-"

I splashed my milkshake in her face. Smiling, I laid my hands on the table. I looked everyone of them in the eyes. My long black hair barely touched the table. My brown eyes stared directly into their own eyes, saying "go die, fat bitch". Then the words finally came out of my mouth after six long years of being used by those three.

"Why don't you pay for your own shit, whore." I got up and left after that.

And some Applause for the entry.

It was a week later and I was on the train sporting my new look. I had went to get my hair cut the day before. It was cut to my shoulders, and it felt really weird having shorter hair. I picked the most ridiculous color I could think of. Blonde. That was weird too. I kept expecting to see my old long black hair in the mirror. The next day I'd be in Tokyo… it was… nerve racking…

"Hey." A high tempo voice said. It sounded like a field mouse. I turned my head to see a full grown woman. She looked like a writer. Her hair was light brown and cut into a short bob. She had standard brown eyes, they framed by a pair of smart looking glasses. She was wearing a black pencil skirt and a simple white blouse with a pair of black stilettos. I think that from anyone's prospective she would have looked like a stereotypical journalist.

I blinked in awe at her.

"My seat is next to yours!" She smiled cheerfully. She took her seat and extended her hand. "I'm Kurokawa Minasaki, but you can just call me Mina."

I shook her hand. "Ria."

Yes, I lied about my name. I didn't want to be known as Asagi Rin, daughter of a fish marketer and a translator. God, even my parents were boring. They had both hoped that I'd follow in one of their footsteps. So my father taught me everything he knew about dead fish and my mother taught me every language she knew. Which is only two if you don't count our native language of Japanese. Those talents are utterly useless.

"No last name?" Mina cocked her head to the side like a dog. I shook my head. She shrugged and continued with conversation. "So why are you going Tokyo?"

"To not be here." I responded. I looked at her. She probably only asked so I'd respond with: "You?"

"I have a confession of love to make!" She squealed, wiggling a little bit.

"We are now heading towards to Kanto region." The speakers informed us as we pulled out of the station.

"Anyway… what district are you going to? Shibuya? Shinjuku? Tamachi?" Mina began to ask me, so I thought I'd tell her just to shut her up.

"Ikebukuro…." I replied.

"AH! No way! That's where I'm going!" Her eyes lit up. It concerned me, I thought she'd ask me for a favor. "Nee, can I ask you a favor?"

Dammed it all! "You can ask, it doesn't mean I'll accept."

She nodded. "Can I seek you advice?"

"If you let me stay at your place." I responded. I hadn't really thought about where I was going to live until that moment. Her eyes sparkled, so I was going to take a guess that meant yes.

"Okay, well there's this guy I've liked since my first year of high school. He's pretty intimidating, but I know deep down he's really nice!" She began her story making over dramatic gestures. "Anyway, I graduated without telling him my feelings, and we never talked once. I went to college here in Kansai… so I couldn't see him for all those years… and I still can't think of any guy but him."

Her face was very red, she acted a lot like a teenager, more so than I did and I was nineteen. It seemed like she gave a lot of thought to this. I kind of felt sorry for her. I'd only "fallen in love" once in my lifetime. He ended up dating Kana instead of me. So I was really in no rush to have my heart stomped on again.

"You're really devoted. How do you know he hasn't changed?" I asked her in my most cynical voice.

"I JUST KNOW!" The entire train car turned their heads to us. Mina noticed this and quieted herself down. "I mean, Heiwajima-kun isn't one to change so drastically."

"Then why don't you just tell him how you feel." I sighed, looking briefly out the window. "I mean-"

When I turned my head back to the older woman she was sobbing. HOLY SHIT! I had a miniature panic attack trying to calm her down.

"He-he won't accept me that way…. H-he do-doesn't like c-c-cowards. Which-hick- Which is what I am!" She continued to cry.

"You're not a coward, you just… uh… Listen if you avoid this you'll only begin to hate yourself more." I told her.

"You-you think s-so R-Ria-chan?" Her tears stopped, I nodded. "I see… thank you."

That woman was a handful…

How was I supposed to know those around her were even more of a handful?