Shindo had forgotten how liberating it felt to zip from building to building. His grin never left his lips as he landed safely on a random rooftop, only for his grin to widen as he leapt off the roof onto another dive. He could never get enough of the cold breeze hitting his face or the sound of his jacket rustling with the wind as another rooftop grew nearer and nearer. There clearly was no better way to get to HOC.

"Someone's happy." A voice came through his ear, causing Shindo to lose focus. He almost crashed into a railing, but he luckily reacted in time and landed safely on an empty sidewalk.

"SHIT! Give a warning when you speak through the coms, Diva!" He growled. He heard a giggle through the coms, which served to further irritate him.

"Care to leave me alone, Diva? You could have killed me!"

"Your fault for having the coms opened!"

"Oi, shut it for a bit!" He breathed for a bit, before checking his surroundings. He seemed to have landed near Sapphire's Coffee Express in Noire Avenue. It was a few blocks south from Main Avenue, where this sector's HOC center was. If he kept zipping from rooftop to rooftop, he would be there in about five to seven minutes.

"Shindo! Hey, listen! Shindo!" Diva chirped non-stop in his ear.

"Diva, Shut up. You are starting to get annoying." Shindo let out an exasperated sigh as he stared straight into a CCTV.

"Ah sorry, sorry! I can’t help but feel a bit excited,” She replied merrily, “I'm pretty sure today is going to be interesting."

"I get ya, but please be mindful when I’m zipping with the grapnel shot”

“Fine, geez, I get ya!”

He heard her sigh from the other side of the call, not that he minded annoying that woman from time to time. Nevertheless, now that she was in contact with him, he might as well take this chance to speak a bit with Diva.

“Anyways, did you check when the exam is going to start? Because I'm pretty sure it was around this time." Shindo asked Diva earnestly.

"Hold on, let me check." He could hear her typing on her laptop. "It starts at eleven. You have around two hours to go to the center."

"Huh, nice. I have time to eat something before then, eh?"

"Well, you are near Sapphire's. You can go grab a coffee there."

"Oh no,” Shindo denied Diva vehemently, “I'm never going back to Sapphire's. Dunno why many people swear by their coffee, but everytime I go there their coffee's always awful."

"Seems more like you're being picky," Diva teased, giggling a bit.

"Heh, funny. I'm not being picky at all. In fact, I pride myself in finding good coffee shops throughout the city." Shindo replied with a bit of pride.

"Oh? This is new," Diva said, interested, "If you know that much about coffee shops, then, do you know any that are near you right now?"

“Hmm,” Shindo tapped his chin a bit before answering. "I know two good ones are around here, but the most convenient one for me is Third Rail. It’s closer to The Center than Sapphire's, and it isn’t that full on weekday mornings."

"Third Rail?" Diva voice suddenly brightened. "I thought I was the only one who knew about that place! Their lattes are so good!"

This caught Shindo's attention. He decided to tease her a bit. "And I thought I was the picky one?"

Diva stopped gushing and suddenly laughed at his attempt. "Oh East, we both know that Sapphire's coffee is watery. Plus, I've read that Third Rail's owner knows a few things about the trade!"

They chatted for a bit longer about other good coffee shops in the city until Shindo arrived at Third Rail. It was a small coffee shop on Interdistrict Avenue, two blocks from HOC. The few who knew of this place came for the good quality coffee and it’s customer service. Plus, since not many came, it wasn’t full, so it was always a bonus for Shindo.

He bid Diva farewell as his stomach rumbled. He really needed to eat before the exam.

Shindo entered the shop and ordered a simple breakfast sandwich and a cappuccino to go. While he waited, he noticed that there were a lot of heroes, but they were wearing flashier costumes than what he wore.

There was a cat girl with a ninja-like suit chatting happily with another girl, who wore a sort of cyberpunk gunner clothing. The guy waiting in front of Shindo also had some kind of pirate buccaneer motif, with an eyepatch and all. All in all, the coffee shop was too bright and cheery for Shindo to eat there.

Thankfully, he didn't have to stay long, as the employees were working faster than ever today. After all, it was the day of the hero exam, and civilians regarded future heroes in high esteem. So, of course, the clerk would serve him faster than ever. That's hero bias if Shindo ever knew it.

Shindo then calmly went out of the store with his food in hand and used his grapnel gun to continue towards HOC. As he munched on his breakfast sandwich, he searched for an empty rooftop near the center, so he could relax before he could finish eating. After 5 minutes of zipping, he found one in the main avenue in front of the center.

To say the HOC building was gigantic is an understatement. It was the tallest building in the sector, after all. The vantage points where heroes would jump off could be barely seen from the rooftop where he was eating his breakfast. The beautiful glass panes contrasted heavily with the big concrete plaza where most office workers were coming in and out. It was a view to marvel at.

Still, this wasn't the only sight Shindo could see. The blinding variety of heroes surprised the former villain. He could barely make out a few recruits chatting lightly, maybe about the upcoming exam. On the edge of the crowd of heroes, another one with a sort of rollerblade gadget did tricks to surprise his peers. There were even some heroes sparring all over the street.

It was too bright. This world of heroes was too bright compared to his past as a villain. That… that world of night was a no-man's land compared to this blinding world. Those newbies below were filled to the brim with hope. They were hopeful that they were joining a cause bigger than whatever they did before. It was so unlike that lonely world, where life was a constant uphill battle against despair and madness.

Shindo found this world alien. Who could blame him? He was once a monster of the night. A supervillain. But now, he was a cornered beast, forced to come out into the world of the day. He was a night-dweller braving into a bright place he had never set foot on. Compared to the many who were going to take the exam today, Shindo had an advantage over most of them: He had experienced enough grief and anger to be a hopeful newbie. He knew exactly what he was getting himself into.

Still, there was a genuine excitement coursing through Shindo as he finished his breakfast. When he was... Herttz, he really hated admitting to that, this place was a taboo for villains. No villain, not even himself, who caused a great crisis in the city, would ever try to set a foot in HOC. Once a villain ever thought of trying to invade that world, they would immediately be captured and imprisoned. That's where the excitement was coming from. Whenever he decides to enter the HOC building, Shindo would be going into forbidden territory for the first time in eight years.

This was when he noticed the time displayed in his visor. It was around ten in the morning, an hour before the exam. Shindo quickly finished his coffee and put the cup in the paper bag, along with the wrapper for the breakfast sandwich. He then grappled to a nearby balcony just to drop down to ground level. In a swift motion, Shindo gracefully landed on one knee in front of the HOC center.

That was when he heard an audibly amused voice behind him.

"Well, that was a great landing if I ever saw one."

Shindo stood to see a young woman who was fairly shorter than him. Her dark silver hair was shaped in a pixie cut, which matched with her costume: a sort of classical magician costume with a cutesy but practical flair to it. However, unlike many other heroes, she didn't hide her face with a mask. Instead, she freely showed her unnatural purple eyes, which had the red crosshairs instead of pupils, something that caught Shindo by surprise. She definitely was a Mutant.

"You haven't seen a hero land like this?" Shindo asked to the amused woman.

"Oh yes, I have. Some heroes have saved me in the past, but it’s a bit uncommon nowadays to see heroes land like you just did." She scratched her head with an absentminded smile.

Shindo grinned back at the woman. "That's news for me then. Last time I came in contact with heroes, they did the similar pose. I'm just simply imitating them."

They chuckled for a bit, before the woman offered her hand to Shindo. "You can call me Flush. I'm going to be taking the hero exam and hopefully enlist as one today."

Shindo took her hand but grin shifted to a more wry smile. Her grip! She was strong! For how long had she trained to have that grip strength?

"I'm Wattz. I'm also taking the exam." He introduced himself, trying to avoid showing his wry smile. They both let go of their hands and started making some small talk as they made their way towards the center.

Through this small talk he learned a few more things about Flush. The first was that her costume was custom made, but she refused to say who supplied her with it. A pity, because Shindo could see it was well made. She also was a bit passionate about heroism, although from the dim light that shone in her eyes, Shindo knew that there was more to her passion as a hero. Alas, he knew not to pry further. It wasn’t his business, so he left that topic as is.

"You know, Wattz," Flush suddenly said, snapping him from his thoughts. She had hands behind her as she walked in a carefree manner, "It's nice to see someone like you on the exam. What do you think it will be about?"

Shindo thought for a bit before answering. He could vaguely remember Diva something about this but he couldn’t remember it that well. "Maybe it is to test our aptitude for heroism? I'm not really sure, but that would be a fairly decent guess, I think."

Flush nodded in an understanding manner, musing over his answer, which Shindo found a bit cute. They continued to engage in small talk, but they both stopped talking as soon as they entered the imposing glass building. They were here.