Everyone but Alex knew the person who welcomed them, it was the woman who told them to party it up on the plane before it was too late. Instead of wearing the white dress she had on the video, she was sporting military combat gear that matched her wild silver hair and gold starred pupils.

The gear looked like the American army's in style, which confused the girls. Weren’t they in a gang, and not in the military? Seeing their expressions, Izar eased their doubts as every shipment of blanks had the same questions.

“No, we are not the watchdogs of the government. They know their place not to fuck with us~. I just quite like the American uniforms since they’re easy to move in and nice to use as casual clothing. But let’s get to the main point; teachers, I’m sure you already ‘graded’ them. Would you hand over the list so they can be given their badges?”

Hearing their call, a dozen or so girls came forth,with a paper in their hands and stood next to her. They then started calling numbers out. Each girl that came forth was given a badge with a rank on it, and told not to lose it or get beaten.

It seemed they followed the alphabet, as Alex was soon called over by Spada to receive her badge. Standing so close to this crazy bitch made Alex’s skin crawl, even more so, as Spada looked her up and down with a foreboding smile.

“Humph. You really were lucky to beat that girl and make D-rank. If it was up to me, you would end up at E-Rank with your trash combat skills. Should you have lost that last fight, you wouldn’t even have a chance to survive here. But I’m curious when your luck runs out. Here’s your badge. Don’t lose it, or your life is forfeit. Treat this information as a little service from your senior. Now, form up over to the rank D group.”

Pinning the metal on Alex’s chest ,Spada gave her a few parting words before booting her to the curve. Alex kept her head down and didn’t show any anger. She remembered what happened to the one blank that talked back to the teachers. How many bones they broke, and made her fight in that condition. In fact, it was the girl she fought with.

That alone spoke about how weak Alex was. She knew that if she didn’t want to be beaten, she’d have to be smarter and more cunning. She told Sugar to do nothing to those who beat her up in those fights—in case they could be separated, she would be doomed if they went to seek revenge.

Deep down, she knew she couldn’t act weak or she would be eaten alive in this world. She had to throw away her passive self in the world of magical girls. They were greedy, violent, and full of lust that left her embarrassed by just watching and hearing their shameless acts.

There was no justice in this place. There were no rules to protect the weak, only the law of the gang stood firm. Realizing the wrongness of the law in that place made Alex burn inside. Yet her current useless self could do nothing about it, so she started studying the D-rank badge in curiosity, thinking of what the rank meant. She figured from Spada’s words that she wasn’t at the bottom of the totem pole. Listening as the next girls were called out, she gathered that the ranks went from A to E.

She watched intently, to see what ranks Sugar and Loka got, since they did pretty good in the fights. They were given ranks A and B respectively, meaning they were at the top of the food chain and they were given shiny badges, made of gold and silver.

With the last of the magical girls split up, teachers led the girls to different buildings based on their ranks. Sugar gave Alex a worried look, to which Alex shook her head and worded that everything was alright.

Only two teachers led the D-rank blanks along, not giving them any explanation about what the ranks meant. The two were silently leading them along the path leading further into the depths of the hidden city. Despite it being so far away from the nearest civilization, everything looked clean.

The girls were amazed at the sights of the buildings that were tall and imposing. Still, they kept walking further in and, as they walked, the buildings were getting less and less well kept. Another thing Alex noticed was that these buildings had letters on them that each had a different range between D and A.

She noticed that few buildings had D-rank printed on it, for E rank though, there were only about a dozen or so that had any mention of it. After walking for twenty minutes, she stopped at a building that was a little rundown, but wasn’t that bad in shape.

As long as we clean up the place it won’t be bad, thought Alex. She noticed though that E group was following them and she watched them pass by. Looking into the distance, her eyes widened in shock at them walking to such decrepit shacks. Holes in the walls, broken windows, and half-decayed roofs.

Such a place isn’t fit for a human to live in. thought Alex, as she watched the few girls in E rank complain before being beaten by their teachers brutally.

“Hey, looks like more showed up, guys.”

Alex turned her sight away from the E rank girls and turned her head towards the girl who shouted at them from the window. She wasn’t a teacher, as she had a rank D badge on her chest, so Alex figured that their group wasn’t the only one that came here.

Just how many magical girl gangs existed in the world? She threw out such thoughts, since she knew that there was no point in thinking about it. Noticing that the teachers and the other girls were entering the building, she snapped out of it and went inside.

“Your machete.”

“Eh?”

Alex was confused when she finally got inside to see a girl asking for her blade. Although it was a short time with her, she had grown fond of its touch. She didn’t really want to give up on her blade, but if she didn’t give it willingly, the machete would most likely be taken by force. The choice between giving the machete and giving the machete after getting beaten black and blue was quite obvious.

With a sigh, Alex gave up her blade, to which the teacher took it, then unsheathed and stuck the blade in a hole of a strange machine. A noise rang after the blade was put inside, and a red light soon turned to green, to which the teacher took out the blade and handed it back over to Alex.

“The blade now shows your grade and rank. Remember that the grade is your letter and the rank is your ranking in the grade. Currently, you are ranked 477 out of 527, as a piece of advice, never let anyone including teachers ever take your blade, no matter the reason.”

But, you just held it… Wait!? You wanted me not to give you a blade!? Alex thought briefly.

After giving her a stern warning, the teacher waved off the dumbfounded Alex to another teacher down the hall who was waiting. There were still girls coming in, so Alex decided to check her blade out and was surprised at the change of the blade.

The old imprint of her number was removed, and her Grade and Rank were now listed. Also the material had changed, now as it had become a pure white blade with black numbers and letters.

Sheathing her machete, Alex waited for a bit, before the girls finished registering their blades after which they were led upstairs. The building had ten floors that Alex counted from the outside, and they walked up to the fourth floor, and those with the lowest rankings were placed inside.

On the next floor, Alex was told she would be living on it, and by then, Alex figured out how the rooms went. Each floor could hold one hundred girls each, walking into the room she noticed the beds were military style. A trunk and a twin bed that seemed only slightly more comfortable compared to a prison jail bed.

She noticed at once that there were girls already in, lazing around or talking with each other. Next, she noticed that each bed was numbered by a ranking. At that point, the teacher left. There were twenty other girls with her who spread out into the room, not daring to even look in her direction. Alex followed suit to find her bed.

When she reached her bed she noticed a girl sitting below her on the bottom bunk. The girl sat up seeing Alex stop in front of her. She had orange hair and a face full of freckles. When the girl smiled, Alex noticed that she had lost one of her front teeth.

Although she lost it, her smile was still bright and sunny as she looked at Alex who looked like a mummy.

“So you’re my bedmate? Man, you look like hell. The teacher watching over you must have hated your guts! What gang are you from? What’s your name?”

Giving a small chuckle, Alex winced and replied, “Maybe you’re right about that. I’m from the Black Card Gang. My name is Alex, how about you?”

“Oh! You’re from a famous one! I’m from the River Gang and the name's Fei! Hey, are you hungry? It’s about time for lunch!”

The girl named Fei seemed pretty perky, as she got up and grabbed Alex’s hands with zeal. Earning some gasps from the other girls, but she didn’t notice. Without another word, the girl led Alex away to the lower floor. Some of the other girls heard about the food, and decided to follow them down below, gossiping on the way.

Alex was pulled away by the sunny girl as a herd of girls followed them down the stairs, maintaining a safe distance. They walked out of the dorm and to one of the buildings labeled for D-rank. Next to the door, there was a sign that read cafeteria. They entered the building.

The smell of meat filled the air, making Alex’s mouth water. That one full meal she had won wasn’t enough to make her satisfied. She wanted to eat meatloaf, the meal of the heavens.

She shook away from Fei’s iron grip, propelled by hunger that could only be quenched by nice meatloaf. Walking fast to the counter, where a nice looking older man stood, Alex almost wanted to grasp his shoulders and demand meatloaf, only to restrain herself with the sheer force of will.

“May I have some meatloaf?”

The man looked down at her badge and then smiled widely, “It will be my pleasure to serve a magical girl! Please wait at a table and your order will be out. Do you wish for any condiments?”

“A bottle of ketchup.”

“The meal will be ready in a half-hour, do you wish for refreshment as you wait? We have a wide assortment of drinks.”

Hearing his reply, Alex's hands started to tremble. There was one drink that went really well with meatloaf and that was red wine. Although, since she was too young, she mustn’t drink it unless it was brought out at celebrations. The mix of meatloaf and red wine was to die for. They offered it on the plane, maybe they offered it here as well!

“Do you have any red wine?”

The man's smile turned into a frown as he apologized, “I’m sorry miss, alcohol is only served at C-rank or higher establishments. I could offer you some lemonade, pop, or water instead.”

With a sad expression Alex replied, “Then, I’ll have some lemonade then.”

Alex sat down and sulked, knowing she wouldn’t get any red wine. She cheered right up after remembering that she was finally gonna eat some meatloaf. Fei ordered food as well, and sat by Alex. The other girls followed suit and sat around, making the place packed.

They all had a hellish week and wanted to kick back and relax. After all, they were told that tomorrow the training really began. The meatloaf was soon brought out and Alex lathered it in ketchup and, with a wide smile, cut a piece away.

She then lifted the meat, her mouth-watering. Alex couldn't take it anymore, and took a bite awaiting the taste of meaty goodness.

And what did it taste like?

She spat it out.

It tasted like shit.