Upon reaching the school building we were greeted by a strange view.
A large building made entirely of glass that had the shape of a reverse pyramid with its head buried in the ground.
"How the hell people build this I have no idea" Said Tada as we entered the weird-looking building.
We were stunned to find out, that the inside of the pyramid was completely different than what it looked from the outside.
The room was huge with many people inside: It seemed we were the last people to reach the end.
Mary and her party was also here, as well as that blue-haired jerk, Akira.
At that moment, the loud noise of a siren was heard and the man himself Tsurugi Takagi entered the building.

"Welcome everyone!" Said the man that was wearing a pink kimono this time.
"I must congratulate you all for reaching the finish line " As the students looked in awe the headmaster stepped on a stage that was located towards the back of the building.
"And before we continue with the ceremony, I must ask all of you to please put your coin total on in the basket next to you" At his signal, several students that looked slightly older than us walked next to us. Each one carrying a green-colored basket with a counter in front of them.
I didn't know what were the baskets made of that gave them their green color, but upon putting the correct amount of coins in them each basket's counter made a lilting sound and a letter of the alphabet appeared on it.

A,A+,D,B-. Those were some of the letters that appeared in various of the teams.
The one that walked next to us was none other than Hideyoshi who, upon seeing his master wounded, used his ability to treat his wounds.
"Oh my master Tada, I hope you're alright. Did he cry too much?" He asked me teasing his master once more.
Tada, finally able to walk straight, got off my back letting me stretch up a bit.
However as I got my hand in my pocket to put the coins into the green basket, I was shocked to realize they were missing.
Every single one of the coins had disappeared which made our total drop to zero.

"What do you mean our total is zero? How could you lose them Rant!?" Asked Tada furious as he grabbed me by the collar.
We were all looking gloomy. That was literally the last thing we needed to happen.
Tifa rushed to help me as she tried to get Tada off me.
"Tada get off! Getting mad at Ran won't solve anything"
The situation was desperate, we didn't have any chance of passing this time.
"May I use mine?" Soro was the one who broke the tension by raising his hand as he pulled a golden coin out of his chest pocket.
"I'm sorry but, that's the only one I have" He added as he gave me the gold coin.
One...Only one...That was not enough. We needed a total of four to pass and it was only luck that gave Soro that one.
The thought of failing gave me a bitter feeling. An agonizing sense of despair, like someone whispering to my ear that it's all over.
Was that it? Was that all I had? Was all my motivation for nothing?

As I was looking aimlessly at the little bit of gold I held on my hands I heard some voices behind me.
"Look boss that's the guy I was talking about!"
"The one you stole all the coins from? What a loser"
"Come on give him a little credit, It's just that I am that good at stealing"
Listening to their conversation I turned to face them.
It was him again. That guy with the spiky red hair and the heart-shaped soul patch beard.
The one that bumped onto us was now laughing at our faces for stealing all our coins.
"That bastard!! How dare he steal our money and laugh about it" Tada pulled his sleeves up and started walking towards him when the butler named Hideyoshi stopped him.
"I'm sorry master Tada but I cannot let you do that. The exam is over after all"
"Yes, sir Tada. Just as Sir Hideyoshi said the exam is over, stealing the coins of the participants is allowed as I mentioned in the rules so it's completely legal to do so"
The one who stopped Tada, in the end, was The headmaster who stepped closer to help his students.
"I'm afraid the only thing left for you guys to do, is to put your total inside the basket"
Tears fell from my eyes. No, not only me, Tada and Tifa as well were just as sad.

"I'm so sorry guys. If I was just a little more perceptive..."
"It's not your fault Ran, I was the one who let him off after all" Said Tifa.
"But now all of us will have to leave" I replied putting the one remaining coin into the basket.
Then the unexpected happened. The coins fell in and the basket's counter made the lilting sound again.
BLING!! The sound was similar to the collision of a key or another metallic object with another and the counter showed the letter F.
"Excuse me but I think there's is some misunderstanding here, I'm sure I said that the total must be four coins to pass the exam, but I'm certain that I never mentioned anything about leaving upon failing"
What? We all looked at Mr.Tsurugi staggered by the sudden hope.
"I'm sorry but I must have misheard you, sir, can you please explain?" Asked Tada bowled over.

"To put it simply, the total amount of coins you have by the end serves only as a measure to determine your rank, not to throw you out. Since your amount was only one and was, therefore, lower than the minimal(Average) amount, your team's rank will begin by the lowest possible which is F Rank. From this point on, you can do well on your missions and studies to raise that rank all the way up to S+, the current top" He cleaned his throat as he ended his speech.
This was the most wonderful piece of information that we've heard up till now.

"Yes!! " I shouted as I hugged my teammates.
All so suddenly, those tears of sadness and despair transformed into those of happiness and joy. 
"We're still in the game!"
"Yes, we can still do it!"
It didn't matter if we were the lowest possible, the fact that we could still go meant that we still had a chance, and we wouldn't let it go to waste.
"I'm very glad" Said Soro wiping the tears off his eyes as we all jumped and hugged him.
He was the one who saved us after all.

"Now that everyone has a rank, we can proceed on celebrating. Please feast on the delicious buffet we prepared for you and party to your heart's content. You earned it after all" Said the trickster named Takagi with opened arms. He was indeed a great host.
I felt the hunger overwhelming me. I was so busy those last two days that the only food I managed to enjoy was what Hideyoshi called emergency late-night cookies which I have never heard before. They were enjoyable but their roots were questionable.
Behind the filled with food table, seven empty seats were placed.
They looked fancy more like thrones and a feeling in the back of my mind warned me as to who they were placed for.
And thus two giant doors at each side of the building opened, and the ones known as seven deadly sins entered the reverse looking pyramid.
The seven strongest students, the rulers of the academy stepped inside the hall.

But what I found weird was that they weren't seven.
To my surprise, only five of them attended the party, with one of the five putting some food on a plate and then leaving.
The remaining four looked all eccentric.
There was of course Hiroto Nakajima who we met already, A girl that had red long braided hair filled with flowers, with the bangs placed on the sides, that had emerald green eyes and a small mole on her right cheek. She had the word GREED painted in black on the side of her chin, filled with glitter and wore a pink fluffy dress, a golden crown on her head, and was holding a pink-colored frilled umbrella despite being inside a building. She really looked like a princess.

Another one with a highlighted sliver-colored bob haircut, with small silver thick eyebrows, that had her eyes closed shut as she was eating. She wore a kimono that was white on top and red on the bottom which made her look like a shrine maiden. The kimono was open in the upper-middle slightly revealing her breasts and the word SLOTH painted in black slightly above them.
She was drooling while eating. Like she was sleeping with her mouth full. And a snot bubble was forming on her nose every time she took a breath.

The last one remaining was a dude that had long orange-colored pompadour that seemed slightly burnt towards the top with an ash grey strand of hair that was twisted along with the rest. He had dead fish eyes and a permanent angry expression on his face with his mouth open, showing his teeth that were gritting as he ate while of course glaring at everyone in the room.
Like he had a permanent bone to pick with someone.
He looked like a delinquent and was wearing the uniform of a biker gang and his jacket had an extremely long tail-like edge behind.
As I observed him, I couldn't help but notice the word PRIDE that for some reason was painted in black on his teeth of all places.
But I couldn't look much because not long after he started glaring daggers at me.
I did not know the reason but I didn't want to find out either.
What I also noticed despite the glaring was the scar that he had on his nose.
A slice wound that hadn't heal as it seems and it was still gushing blood down his face.
But he didn't seem to care.
Their power was outstanding, even from here I would get this feeling of anxiety with my every move.

"Everyone, please don't be shy and come enjoy the food. I understand that we may be a strange bunch but do not forget that this celebration is still aimed towards you."
"My! Gerald please, stop glaring at everyone. You're scaring our cute little newcomers"
"Like you're one to talk about you shitty old hag"
"Be careful who you call old, trash!"
Just when Hiroto was trying to break the ice, the princess and the delinquent interrupted him and started fighting.
"Please stop both of you, we're not here to fight" Said the shrine maiden as the bubble on her nose popped.
"We're not taking orders from a fan-service character " Shouted the ones fighting as the silver-haired girl joined the fight after asking "Who did you call a fan-service character!?."

"Oh! Everyone is so energetic today" The just as the trio was about to get serious a girl entered the room.
She had long hair in the color of hazel with long bangs that covered her rear sides.
She had brown colored eyes and wore a black choker on her neck.
What seemed to differ was the black mark of a coiled snake on each one of her cheeks.
She was wearing a nice red dress with black frills on the edge.
And upon her entrance, everyone seemed to stop.
"Alice? How come and you're here? What about Orochi?"
"He didn't feel like eating"

She then stepped behind the table and took the seat in the center.
"Oh don't mind me you guys, keep at it!" Said Alice as she grabbed a piece of meat with a fork.
But the others didn't feel like fighting again and sat down.
At that moment a big Growl was heard which made everyone look towards my place.
It was my stomach that couldn't contain its excitement.