Late in the evening, inside Setsuka's apartment, 1415 days after Setsuka began her daily training regiment
"Take a test at any local branch of the Hero Association. If you score better than the cut-off, you will be registered in the Hero Registry and will be allowed to call yourself a 'hero'. Once you are recognized by the Association, you will be deemed a pro and will be paid from the donations collected by the Association. All the heroes in the public eye are registered, professional heroes. You may be doing plenty of hero work, but self-proclaimed heroes are really just…weirdos." Setsuka read the article that was posted on the website of the Hero Association by using Ginka's laptop.
"I had no idea." Setsuka lamented aloud as she looked down at the desk she was sitting on while resting her forehead on the back of her hands. Ginka simply looked at Setsuka with the on plastered on her face.
"Are you registered Ginka?" Setsuka asked the young cyborg as she set her gaze down towards the table of her living room/dining room.
"No I am not registered with the Hero Association. Should I be?" Ginka told Setsuka in a curt manner.
"No, not if you don't want to. I guess I'll go and register myself as a hero. I guess I'll do that tomorrow." Setsuka decided as she got up from her desk and began to make her way towards the door.
"Would you mind if I were to register with the Hero Association with you?" Ginka requested of Setsuka as she walked behind Setsuka.
"Sure, whatever. You don't need to ask me that Ginka." Setsuka replied to Ginka's question as she opened the door for her to leave.
"Very well then, I have decided to join the Hero Association alongside you." Ginka responded as she exited the tiny apartment room that Setsuka resided at.
A few minutes later, back inside Setsuka's apartment room
'Damn it, I really wish I had known that the Hero Association existed! I could have been a hero by now!' Setsuka shouted in her head as she thought about the information that Ginka had shared with her.
'I'm glad that Sanju didn't find out that I had no idea about the Hero Association." Setsuka thought to herself as she lay restless in her sleeping bag.
Inside one of the large offices located within the Headquarters of the Hero Association, City A, 1417 days after Setsuka began her training regiment
"It's decided. Mumen Rider will remain the top ranked hero C Class hero." one of the men gathered stated to his colleagues as they held their meeting.
"Understood. I will inform him of our decision." another man in the large office said in agreement with the decision of his fellow office worker.
"I simply cannot understand why he has no desire to move up to the B Class." a plump middle-aged man with the top his head being bald and a well kept moustache questioned the hero's lack of interest in getting promoted to the B Class rank.
"Then the next item on our agenda concerns the 55th Hero Certification Exam. The total number of candidates is…" the man who had voiced the decision of the status of Mumen Rider spoke up before pausing while gesturing to another woman who was in the room to continue from where he stopped.
"11,684, with the exam offered at six different venues. That is an increase of more than 22% over the previous exam." the woman stated, continuing from where the man had stopped. A majority of the people in the room were happy with the news that they had just heard in regards to the topic that they were discussing.
"We mustn't be happy with simple quantity. Even with more candidates, if the quality of heroes is reduced, then the numbers are meaningless. Therefore, we ought to be even more critical during the evaluations." the partially bald man who was questioning Mumen Rider's stated to his fellow colleagues with a serious expression on his face.
"Also, it is to my understanding that a certain person of interest is taking the exam this time." the older executive said as he decided to change the topic of discussion for the time being.
"Yes sir. It hasn't been confirmed yet, but I am sure that she will be participating in the exams." a man with short black hair with a black beard responded to the question of the middle-aged plump executive as he looked at the file in his hand that contained information on Ginka.
Within one of the Hero Testing Location No. 6, City Z
Inside a large building that was shaped like a sphere, a large group of people had gathered at the site in order to take the test that the Hero Association had prepared for the people aiming to be professional heroes. And from within the large group of people that had gathered in the room where their abilities would be tested, Setsuka stood out like a sore thumb while wearing a crop top and a speedo while putting her fists in her arms.
"Ha, look at this poser thinking she can even compete against us with her small physique." one of the female applicants mocked Setsuka.
"You said it girl, that pipsqueak really is out of her league coming here and trying to be a hero with that dumb look on her face." another one of the female applicants agreed with her fellow applicant as the two of them continued to look at her smug looks on their faces.
"I really don't know how she is able to walk around with no hair like that. Can't she at least cover it up?" another one of the women stated while pointing at Setsuka's bald head. And while the previous comments did not really bother Setsuka, the one where her bald head was mentioned managed to frustrate her for a moment.
'Calm down Setsuka, there's no need to get angry at them talking about my head. I'll just have to show them that they shouldn't underestimate me like that with my awesome skills.' Setsuka told herself as she briefly looked in the direction of the women that had been mocking her before facing in the direction of one of the employees of the Hero Association who would be evaluating her and the rest of the hero candidates who were with her.
"Now to do the side-to-side jumps for thirty seconds." one of the employees working at the Hero Association announced while carrying a file in her hand.
But little did the women mocking Setsuka know that they were about to be humbled by the woman that they had been mocking all this time.
Moments after Setsuka was done with the physical part of the examination
"I think I'll just leave now." one of the female competitors that had mocked Setsuka said as a her face took on a dejected look before she began to walk away from the room where they were taking the physical part of the examination. This of course was because she witnessed Setsuka show off her overwhelming physical capabilities during the physical part of the exams. A few of the others hero hopefuls that were mocking the bald woman were also making their exit from the room that they were occupying at the moment.
'Hehehe, now I'm guaranteed to be a licensed hero with these cool feats!' Setsuka thought to herself once the physical part of the hero exam was over.
After much more time has passed, inside one of the locker rooms located within the Hero Testing Location No. 6
"Finally! No more exams! Now I'll just wait for the results." Setsuka remarked to herself as she put her hands on her hips while smiling confidently at the fact that she would be able to pass the exam with no difficulty.
"Oh, are you done too?" Setsuka asked Ginka as the young cyborg approached the bald woman. Ginka was wearing a black bodysuit that swimmers typically wore and she had her hair tied in a tight ponytail.
"Yes I am." Ginka told Setsuka now having made it to her side.
'I don't know if there's a point in you taking a fitness test because you're a cyborg and all.' Setsuka asked herself as she looked at Ginka while raising her eyebrows.
'But I must say, that swimsuit really shows your curves perfectly. Even with your robotic limbs showing, I can't help but be in awe at the beautiful body that you have Ginka.' the bald woman continued her inner monologue as she eyed the cyborg with a lustful gaze for a brief moment before asking her cyborg companion how she did in the tests.
"They were easy enough to do. Both the physical and the written parts of the exam were not challenging in the slightest." Ginka told Setsuka how she felt about the exams that they had taken.
"I know right? If this is all there is to becoming a hero, then we'll be certified as one of the top heroes on our debut guaranteed!" Setsuka remarked as she held a hand on her chin.
"We shall get our results soon. Seventy points is a passing grade. The written part was so easy that anyone could have gotten passing grades. That just leaves the fitness test, which pose no challenge for us." Ginka said with a confidence in her voice as she smiled ever so slightly.
"You said it." Setsuka agreed with Ginka, but she was internally panicking at how she did on the written part of the exam.
'But the written parts were pretty challenging for me. I don't know if I'll be able to be a hero because of them.' Setsuka thought to herself as she thought about the written part of the exam.
An hour later
"I have gotten 100 points." Ginka told Setsuka the score that she had gotten on the exam prepared by the Hero Association. The female cyborg was wearing a red leather jacket and a black bodysuit that had light orange outlines on parts of her body.
"Really now?" Setsuka asked the young cyborg with a raised eyebrow as she held a folder in her hand. She was now wearing a red and white hoodie with the words oppai printed on them along with a pair of jeans.
"Yes. It says that I am now a certified S Class hero." Ginka responded to Setsuka's question while reading the contents of the report that she held in her hand.
"S Class? What's that?" Setsuka asked Ginka, having never heard of the term before.
"They are heroes that are said to be capable of pulling of amazing feats on their own. The top dogs of the heroes in the Hero Association. But I do not think much of this ranking. How did you do Mas- I mean Setsuka?" Ginka answered the question that Setsuka had asked her before she asked for the results of the one she wanted to be a master to.
"I don't know. I haven't checked it out yet." the bald woman said as she opened the file in her hand and slowly pulled out the paper.
'Oh, so does this mean that I'm also in the S Class?' Setsuka wondered as she saw the upper half of the letter from the paper she had pulled from inside.
"So you are also a part of the S Class? I am not surprised by this result Setsuka." Ginka praised Setsuka as she leaned her head into her direction.
"On top of that, the font size is bigger than mine. By the way, what did they ask you at the interview." Ginka said with a proud look on her face.
"Interview? What interview?" Setsuka asked Ginka, confused by why she was bringing up an interview.
"Yes." Ginka said before she told Setsuka about some of the things that she had been asked by the executives of the Hero Association that were present at the branch.
"Oh, good for you then. No one told me about an interview." Setsuka responded once she had heard her account on the things that had been mentioned.
"I see…So the Hero Association must have come to the conclusion that your results were adequate for them to let you register as a hero." Ginka said as she nodded her head at the reasoning that she came up with.
"Or maybe they just don't see me as a good enough hero to be interviewed." Setsuka said with a dejected voice as she held up the paper that was inside the file that she was holding in her hand just moment s ago. And on the paper that she had held was the letter 'C' with a bold font.
"I see now. I mistakenly read the top half of the paper thinking that it was the upper part of the letter S." Ginka commented on her mistake as she began to take a good look at the paper once more.
"Could you stop analyzing the damn paper already? What matters is that I passed the exams alright!" Setsuka shouted at Ginka as she made it clear that she was annoyed by her over-analyzing her results.
"No matter, I shall tell the executives that they have made a mistake. Please wait for a moment." Ginka declared while her eyes began to change form and glowed just a bit brighter.
"No its fine Ginka! There's no need to do that! You'll just end up embarrassing me later!" Setsuka told Ginka to stop going through with what she had planned to do.
"Very well, I shall hold off on telling the executives of this matter." Ginka complied with Setsuka's demand as she stopped in her tracks.
"Ms. Setsuka, Ms. Ginka, Ms. Daishi, there will be a seminar for successful candidates at 4:00 PM. Please come to lecture hall number 3." a male voice announced from the speakers that were placed on top of the ceiling of the locker room they were occupying.
"Well whatever. At the end of the day, all that matters is that we're now professional heroes. So let's get this meeting over with alright?" Setsuka said while making her way towards the door before exiting the locker room with Ginka following Setsuka's lead shortly after the bald woman left the locker room.
Meanwhile, inside a studio booth somewhere in City A
Within a lavishly decorated studio booth of a movie set, a handsome man with shoulder-length light blue hair and beautiful green eyes was sitting in front of a table that had a mirror attached to it holding onto his cellphone in one hand. The man sitting at the booth was wearing a black jeans and a blue sleeved shirt along with a necklace around his neck.
"We finally found one of the cyborgs we were looking for." the man on the other end of the phone told the blue-haired man as he put down the file that he was holding in his hand on the table in front of him.
"Yeah, so I've heard." the blue-haired man responded to the man he was speaking to with his elegant voice.
"In consideration of her past accomplishments, we have made an exception and certified her as an S Class hero. I just wanted to make sure that you were notified of this." the employee on the other end of the call notified the decision that the Hero Association made on the promotion of Ginka.
"Yes, and I approve. Thank you for letting me know of the decision on the matter." the blue-haired man said before hanging up the phone and looking at one of the folders that were scattered on the table and looking at the information that the Hero Association had collected on Ginka with a stern look on his face.