The alarm rang at exactly 6:00 a.m.
It wasn't loud. Just a soft digital chime repeating every five seconds like a polite reminder rather than a demand.
Izuya Shoda didn't move.
The sound continued for almost a minute before a pale hand slowly emerged from beneath a blanket and pressed the stop button without opening its owner's eyes.
Silence returned to the room.
Dust floated through the thin rays of morning sunlight slipping between half-closed curtains. The air smelled faintly of old tea and paper. Books were scattered across the floor in uneven stacks—novels, textbooks, psychology manuals, half-read philosophy essays. None of them were organized, but none of them were truly random either.
They simply existed where Izuya had left them.
Posters covered the walls. Anime characters, abstract art, and one faded map of the world with red circles drawn over different cities. On the desk sat a sleek high-end laptop—the only object in the room that looked carefully maintained.
Everything else looked like time had forgotten it.
Under the blanket, Izuya sighed softly.
He opened his eyes.
Dark, sleepy eyes stared at the ceiling for several seconds as if his brain needed time to reconnect to reality.
Morning again.
That thought carried no emotion.
He sat up slowly, messy silver hair sticking out in different directions like he had fought a quiet battle with gravity during sleep.
The room remained completely silent.
Izuya rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock.
6:07 a.m.
School started at eight.
That meant he had exactly one hour and fifty-three minutes before he needed to be present somewhere he had absolutely no interest in being.
He stretched once, lazily, then leaned back against the wall.
For a moment he did nothing.
Then he closed his eyes.
And the world disappeared.
When Izuya opened them again, he was standing in the middle of a street.
Except it wasn't really a street.
It was Buleria.
But empty.
Perfectly empty.
The tall buildings of Zytepia's capital district surrounded him exactly as they existed in reality—glass towers, silent intersections, rows of apartments stretching toward the horizon.
Not a single human was there.
No cars.
No sound.
No wind.
Just an endless, quiet version of the city.
This was the place Izuya called the Void.
His imagination reconstructed the world from memory and logic, creating a flawless mental simulation where time moved differently.
Ten hours could pass here while only one hour passed in reality.
Izuya liked it.
Because nothing talked.
Nothing demanded anything.
Nothing was unpredictable.
He walked slowly down the street, hands in his pockets.
Every detail of the environment was sharp—the cracks in the pavement, the reflection of the sky in the windows, even the faint rust marks on a nearby iron gate.
And there it was.
Perched quietly on top of the gate.
A small Azure Bird.
Its feathers shimmered faintly under the pale sky, bright blue against the grey metal.
It tilted its head as Izuya approached.
They looked at each other in silence.
Izuya crouched slightly.
"You're early today," he muttered.
The bird did not respond, obviously.
But it didn't fly away either.
For some reason, it never did.
Izuya watched it for a moment before standing again.
"School," he sighed.
The bird blinked.
Then it spread its wings and flew upward into the empty sky.
Izuya watched it disappear between the silent buildings.
After a few seconds, he closed his eyes again.
Reality returned with the sound of footsteps outside his room.
"Izuya! You're going to be late again!"
His mother's voice cut through the quiet hallway like a sharp blade.
He glanced at the clock.
6:29 a.m.
Twenty-two minutes had passed in reality.
Inside the Void, nearly four hours had passed.
Not bad.
He stood up slowly.
Outside his door, his mother continued talking loudly to someone in the kitchen.
"Denki, tell your brother to hurry up! That school is expensive and he treats it like a vacation!"
A younger voice answered.
"Okay!"
A moment later, Denki Shoda knocked on the door twice.
"Izuya? Mom says move."
"I'm awake."
There was a short pause.
Then Denki walked away.
Izuya grabbed his school uniform from the chair.
Blazer. White shirt. Tie.
Standard uniform for Buleria National Public School.
He dressed slowly, still half asleep.
When he finished, he picked up a small rusted locket lying on his desk.
The metal surface had the faint shape of a bird engraved on it.
He had found it years ago on the side of the road.
It meant nothing.
But he kept it anyway.
Izuya slipped the locket into his pocket and left his room.
The Shoda apartment was small but tidy.
His mother stood near the kitchen counter scrolling through her phone while drinking coffee.
She glanced at him briefly.
"You're ranked eighth," she said immediately.
No greeting.
No good morning.
Just numbers.
"Don't drop again."
Izuya nodded once.
"Okay."
His father sat quietly at the table finishing breakfast before leaving for work. His uniform jacket—dark blue with a hotel logo—hung on the back of his chair.
He smiled gently when he saw Izuya.
"Morning, Little Cloud."
Izuya blinked once.
"…Morning."
Denki was already tying his shoes near the door.
"Hurry up," he said. "We'll be late."
"I walk."
Denki rolled his eyes.
"You always walk."
"Yes."
Izuya grabbed his bag and left the apartment.
Spring air greeted him outside.
Zytepia's streets were already waking up.
Cars moved along the roads. People hurried toward offices. Shops were opening.
Noise.
Movement.
Life.
Izuya walked quietly along the sidewalk toward school, hands in his pockets.
It took about twenty minutes.
He didn't mind walking.
Walking meant thinking.
And thinking meant quiet.
When he reached the gates of Buleria National Public School, students were already gathering.
Clusters of conversations filled the courtyard.
Near the main building entrance stood a large digital display board.
It showed the Top 10 Student Rankings.
Students were already staring at it.
Whispers floated through the crowd.
"Rank 1 again…"
"Of course…"
"Arthur Beaumont…"
At the very top of the list was a name everyone knew.
1 — Arthur Beaumont
Below it were nine others.
Near the bottom of the top ten…
8 — Izuya Shoda
Izuya barely glanced at the screen.
Ranks meant attention.
Attention meant responsibility.
He preferred staying exactly where he was.
Somewhere behind him, a soft voice spoke.
"Good morning, Izuya."
He turned slightly.
A girl with long dark hair stood there holding a small juice box.
She placed it gently into his hand.
"Don't skip breakfast again," she said.
Her name was Sakura Loslett.
Behind her stood another girl leaning against the gate with a relaxed smile.
"Morning, ghost boy."
That was Ophelia Harley.
Izuya looked at the juice box.
"…Thanks."
Neither girl asked for anything in return.
They never did.
Before he could say anything else, the courtyard suddenly went quiet.
Not completely.
But noticeably quieter.
Students began stepping aside slightly.
Someone was approaching.
Izuya didn't need to look to know who it was.
Arthur Beaumont walked through the gate like he owned the morning.
Perfect uniform.
Blond hair neatly combed.
Green eyes calm and focused.
People instinctively made space for him as he passed.
Arthur didn't acknowledge anyone.
Not even the whispers.
He simply walked toward the main building entrance.
For a brief second, his eyes shifted.
They met Izuya's across the courtyard.
Neither spoke.
Neither reacted.
Then Arthur continued walking.
And the noise of the school slowly returned.
Izuya sipped the juice box.
"…Noisy," he muttered.
Ophelia laughed softly.
"School just started."
Izuya looked toward the sky for a moment.
He wondered if the Azure Bird was still somewhere above the city.
Then he turned toward the building.
Classes were about to begin.