Lovely Lady Nagant (IzukuxLadyNagant)

32: Band's All Together

*PING*

The elevator doors slid open on the first floor as Nagant stepped out with scouter dangling in her right hand while her left sleepily scratched at the back of her head, lifting said head to the commotion of conversation that flooded the entrance. Even though it was an hour before regular school hours began the entirety of Class 1-A were gathered around the common lounge as the smell of coffee and light breakfast filled the air with a warm aroma, and seeing as how she was never a fan of being around large groups of people let alone in the morning while she was still sleepy this slightly irked her. Not enough to ruin her day, but just at the right amount to be a tad irked during a part of the day that's normally quiet. She WAS about to head straight out the door and begin on her commute to the Commission building were it not for the smell of coffee that enticed her enough to stay for a mug she may as well have.

Taking a temporary stop at the kitchen Nagant reached into a cupboard to pull out a black mug that she placed on the counter and poured herself a cup of coffee from the steaming pot, Ashido bounding up to the other side of the counter with a huge grin on her face. "Hey heyyyyyy! Hey Nagant, you wanna like spill some secrets on how to pass this Licensing Exam?"

'I forgot they were doing that today. Been so busy trying to pinpoint the location of the postal code for the past few days didn't even realize their exam was already here.....Don't be an idiot." Nagant replied. "There's your big secret on how to pass."

"Oh. Well, that's a bit underwhelming. Kinda hoping for some secrets about what was going to come our way."

"Hey Nagant, what was your Licensing Exam like back when you were going through the process of becoming a hero?" Kirishima asked beside his classmate. "I heard it was REALLY tough back in your day and everything was a lot harder than it is now!"

"Back in my day...I'm that old to you huh?"

"U-Uh sorry I didn't mean-"

"Hmph, it's alright. Twenty-two years ago was a long way's off from now so yeah, guess I am a little bit ancient compared to the rest of you. As for my Licensing Exam unlike other heroes I wasn't required to go through something like that when working for the Safety Commission. There were other exams that I had to go through in order to be certified as a hero, harder ones more grueling than the portions you students will be facing. It's true though, the exams students go through now are a lot easier than they were back then but that's because things were different twenty years ago than they were now. There was an abundance of corruption in both the ranks of police and heroes, criminals almost always came with itchy trigger fingers, and for a short period of time Japan's national security was in danger from the rise of small villain cells that sprouted in different parts of the country causing havoc.

But to every problem there was a solution, that solution being All Might who just zipped around and fixed everything with that raw strength of his. And with the country being pampered by the Symbol of Peace for so long exams slowly dwindled in difficulty since he practically snuffed out the need for heroes on the same caliber as him. It was a good thing that crime numbers dropped but it was also a bad thing since heroes felt like they were simply being put off to the side and forgotten about. And when All Might was essentially doing the lion's share of the work heroes turned to corruption to fill their pockets when their paychecks couldn't, organizing safe commerce of weapons and illegal substances across the borders so that they can get a piece of the cut. Crime is a negativity sure but it pays, and it pays like a king.

Extortion, blackmail, hits, enforcement. Anything that paid was everything corrupt heroes wanted to be a part of."

"Tch, I can't even imagine doing something like that." Kirishima said in distaste. "Killing somebody to collect your own paychecks? That's sick, nobody who does that could ever call themselves a hero it's not manly."