In the small kingdom of Ikebukurelle the country folk love and obey the king and queen that rule over them. The king and queen, Kichirou and Namiko, are beloved by the townspeople, along with their son, the young prince Shizuo. He loves his country, and all the people in it. Often he will be wandering around outside by himself, greeting the people and playing in the streets. One day he was strolling around, looking for nothing in particular, but found something that would change his life.
It was later in the day, around 6 pm, and the young prince was wondering around town bored. He enjoyed getting out of the house and seeing all his friends in the country. Often they would pretend to be in dire help and would appoint Shizuo to save them. He was helping an old lady carry her groceries to her home and is now heading home for supper. He was heading down and empty street, the lamp posts beginning to turn on because the sun was low in the sky, when he heard a noise from the alleyway. He stops and turns to see what made it. Cats commonly wander the streets, or possibly dogs. But, it would turn out to be no animal, but another young boy. Shizuo walks up to him.
"What are you doing here?" He asks. The boy is sitting down, hugging his legs to his chest. The boy's face is buried in his legs. He doesn't respond to Shizuo's question. "Can you hear me?" Shizuo moved closer to the boy. "It's getting late, your family has dinner waiting for you." The boy's head raises, a scowl on his face, but small tears being held back at the corner of his eyes. Shizuo is taken aback, surprised that he is crying. "It'll be ok, are you lost? I know the entire city, I can help you find your home."
"No, you can't." The boy says through the tears.
"Why not?" Shizuo asks in response.
"Because, I don't have a home." Shizuo stares in awe, he thought everyone had a place they came from.
"Well, why not?" He sits next to the raven haired boy, listening attentively to his every word. They boy wipes away the tears with his dirtied hands. He was wearing a white t-shirt that was dirtied up along a pair of short that are torn at the bottom.
"One day we were walking around and someone came up to us. He was holding something and my parents got scared. They pushed me behind them and told me to run and never look back. I didn't want to, but my mom forced me to start running. So I ran, and I never found them. I look for them every day, asking everyone if they've seen them, but no one knows them." The young boy can't hold back the tears, allowing a few to drop down his face. Shizuo looks at the ground feeling the sadness that the boy was feeling. Shizuo loves his parents greatly and would be so hurt to ever lose them.
"Well, why don't you stay with me until we find them?" The boy looks up at Shizuo with stars in his eyes.
"R-really?" He asks in a quiet voice. Shizuo gives him a big smile.
"Yeah! We'll help you find your family." Shizuo stands up and holds his hand out towards his new friend. The boy smiles and gratefully takes it and helps himself up to his feet.
"My name's Shizuo, what's yours?" Shizuo begins to walk out the alleyway and towards his home at the center of town.
"I'm Izaya."