Raira Academy

Raira Academy is the private school that main characters Mikado Ryuugamine, Anri Sonohara and Masaomi Kida attend. It is set in East Ikebukuro and is considered to be a pretty good high school, with well-maintained grounds and good facilities.

Formerly known as Raijin Academy before it was merged with a near-by school, this was also the high school of Shizuo Heiwajima, Kyohei Kadota, Izaya Orihara, and Shinra Kishitani (Tom Tanaka is shown observing a fight in the anime yet the Light Novels heavily imply that he never attended Raijin), thus allowing Izaya to undo all the hard work he put into Shizuo while they attended middle school together. This was also the place where Shinra introduced Shizuo and Izaya to each other and they subsequently attempted to kill each other.

These years are said to be very violent and something of a black period in the History of the establishment for almost all who bore witness to it. Conversations between the Teachers after the admission of Mairu and Kururi Orihara as freshmen to Raira Academy make referrences to gasoline-filled barrels rolling down the third floor at one point. Shinra also makes passing mention to how he became extremely skilled at setting broken bones and stitching skin back together during those days.

While at Raijin Academy, Izaya began to collect "worshipers", mostly in the form of traumatized teenage girls for his own ends. At some point during this time, the Izaya fangirls began to start trouble with neighboring high schools leading to a period of severe unrest during which Shizuo rises to fame after becoming the center of this conflict (despite his desire to stay firmly out of it). All of Shinra's attempts to pacify the other students seem to fall through. It is believed that during this time Izaya masters Parkour for the sole purpose of running away from Shizuo.