Name

The Eighth Institute.

This was what the people who had brought her here had told her. They wore white uniformed clothing and carried powerful weapons capable of causing grievous harm.

And she was merely a five- or six-year-old child who had to tilt her head up just to see the chins of these people in white.

A little girl wearing the clothes they had prepared for her, and who had already been washed clean—there were quite a few people on the roads here, all wearing white uniforms, but she could not tell what any of them did.

Because to her, everything here was beyond what she could comprehend.

Yes—ever since both her parents had died horribly, the world had exceeded her understanding. The little girl looked at the garment on her body. It was merely something she had slipped over herself, with no distinction between top and bottom, not even any pockets, just an ornament resembling a robe that covered her body.

A badge-like object was pinned to her chest, with a line of numbers written on it. Her mother had taught her numbers while she was still alive, so she recognized what was written there: 1031.

"Go inside. From now on, you'll live here. As long as you follow the rules, you can survive. As long as you become strong, you can stand out. That's the only advice I can give you... Welcome to the Eighth Institute."

They opened a door in front of her and pushed her straight inside. After that, the large door closed automatically.

A little frightened, she leaned against the closed room door and looked around at everything before her. There were many people here dressed just like her.

From children about her age to those around eleven or twelve, she discovered that there were