Thirty-five years.
That was a very long time to work the ground in professional heroics, it was an even longer time to be high in the rankings, much less in the top ten.
And yet that was what Yagi did, holding the title of Japan's number one hero for thirty-five of his forty-five-year professional career.
A record that as far as Nezu could tell was Yagi's and Yagi's alone, the next closest person was a Canadian hero that had been the only one that came close with twenty years as the number one.
It was a very respectable record and If Yagi was a different person than he would likely would take a lot more pride in such an achievement.
And make no mistake, Nezu was sure Yagi did have some pride about it, Just as his friend Izuku was proud of his work in the districts.
The kind of pride where you were warmed by it and they technically understood the importance of their work but always downplayed their part and efforts.
It was a... worrying trait in a person.
A sign of a more worrying state of mind that Nezu would have to keep tabs on.
Yagi's own health being a reflection of that concerning lack of self-worth or self-care both of them shared.
A reflection of their shared background as two-toes, even the most stubborn of people can be worn down with time.
Having everyone telling and show you that your life means nothing on such a grand scale even from such a young age of course would permanently affect anyone.
The big difference though, was that someone stepped in for Izuku and that clearly showed in Izuku's much larger confidence and held more self-worth than Yagi.
His friend could and was able to understand just how much his opinion meant to others and that his health was just as important.
Even if it was only because someone else stepped in to ensure he could work his way up to that confidence.
Nezu liked to think Izuku would still take better care of himself than Yagi since he was part of the ten percent, but like with many comforting lies one could tell himself, his quirk would not let him keep it.
Aizawa was just as much in the ten percent, and he needed others to check in with him to ensure he didn't eat nothing but his jelly packets.
No, most likely Izuku would have taken to living his life just as Yagi if his mother did not learn of the bullying her son was going through.
Ninety percent certain that Izuku would have become a shadow of himself in fact.
Running himself into the ground all for the sake of others, letting others talk him into things with little to no rebuttal.
Ignoring his health, mental and physical, to make or keep himself 'useful'.
The idea of Izuku harming himself to the level that he was permanently disabled to any degree made his chest feel painfully squeezed.
(Like when one of the scientists grabbed him by his ribcage with such strength that even though he was only vaguely aware of himself as a person, he feared that even a little more pressure would break his ribs.)
Hm, his mind had drifted from what he was originally pondering Nezu noted uncurling his paws, so his claws were not dug into his seat anymore.
He was preparing to watch the change of the hero billboard, the five months passing in a rather quick fashion.
Though that could be because of the last update taking a month longer than it normally did.
Personally, though Nezu thought a single yearly update would have been enough, however graduation time for the various schools in Japan were different and it wasn't uncommon for some to quit professional heroics after the first months.
So, there was some logic to updating the roster twice a year.
Still, the updated hero billboard was seen as an important event, and with All Might retiring from full-time heroics this year would be the first time someone else would take the title of Japan's number one hero.
Most of the hero community would be watching, Nezu also didn't doubt that there would be many others watching to see who would be the next person to step into the spot-light.
Even amongst the staff there was a lot of talk about who would be the next number one, what would be the most important factor in the whole thing, there were a lot of good arguments for each person suggested.
Nezu himself had a good idea of who it would be.
Hawks, or Takami Keigo as Izuku knew him, would be the most likely candidate for the next number one hero.
Of course, Takami was currently the number two and his raise to number one wouldn't be a hard leap for most to make, but Nezu was also aware of a few other factors that would contribute to Takami's number one spot.
Such as his massive fan-base.
Takami had a large following to start with due to his looks and the Commission's aggressive advertisement of him.
But once his support of two-toes had, despite how counterintuitive as it might seem with the majority of the country seeming to be quirkist, tripled-Almost quadrupled his fan-base.
The population of two-toes may be small, but there were many who were looked down on for their very mundane or almost non-existent, or invisible quirks, so having someone say that they didn't even need a quirk to be worth something.
It was an understandably heart-warming thing, and his continuing strong defense only further endeared him to the large and often unheard majority of the country.
And that wasn't even counting the many people in districts that adored Takami as a hero that defended their Deku-Sensei.
Popularity was technically not the most important part of being a hero, and only one of the factors, however it certainly helped keep them in a very high spot on the hero rankings, as best shown with... Endeavor.
By all counts Endeavor had much higher numbers than any other hero, even Yagi because of how often All Might was off traveling the globe.
Hence why Endeavor stayed the number two hero for so long.
Even if it was only because his PR team was so good at covering up his casualty numbers wrapped up in boring statistics that the average person didn't understand.
But Yagi had been the person that had been a living embodiment of what the word 'hero' meant.
So it was only natural most people would chose to vote for Yagi whom seemed to be the 'ideal' over the cold but efficient Endeavor.
With their numbers being so close that popular vote would be the tipping point.
Takami also made high numbers in the range of Best Jeanest and Endeavor, so having such a large part of the country to vote for him again, it was all but a shoo-in for Takami to take home the number one spot today.
Such a thing would be momentous, in fact Nezu could not recall if there was ever a hero that was made number one so young, perhaps in early hero history but not in the last century or so definitely.
Hawks would be the first person in a hundred years to become a country's number one hero at twenty years old.
Nezu doubted that any member of the Commission had expected for him to reach that spot so soon, even if it was the plan originally for the man.
He did fear for Takami mentally though.
Being the number one hero of the country had never sunken into Yagi's head due to his being a two-toes no doubt, but it would absolutely weigh heavily on Takami's shoulders.
Even if it didn't at first the Commission's pressure would no doubt have a narrower focus on him given he was in such a place of power now.
There would be a lot more expected of Takami by the Commission.
Takami would also be called for international missions like Yagi used to be, it was rare but expected for the number heroes of the various countries to leave their home country at least once.
Sometimes for simple outreach for countries still rebuilding themselves, or times to help give local heroes aid against void-class quirked villains, or even the rare Ragnarök event but it would happen at some point.
So yes, he was worried about Takami and what this new role would mean for him.
It would likely be harder for Takami to meet up with Izuku like they have been doing, but for all the stress of it, it would also give them more opportunity to help Takami.
As the number one hero who has made himself some good-will, his word about the Commission's corruption will have less blow back on him and make him less touchable.
Oh the outcry would be massive when Japan learned the Commission groomed and abused literal children to be their personal foot soldiers.
Nezu wondered how many families would clutch their children closely afterwards, because even those with powerful quirks would be given reason to be scared for their children in such a world.
It was unfortunate that Takami and his freedom would have to wait until after they deal with All For One though.
There was only so much they could do at one time and it was no doubt that All For One would take advantage of the chaos if they freed Takami first with no cleaned up commission in place, and a new commission would best be established when there were no large scale threats that could influence it.
Still Nezu had to admit to himself he felt conflicting feelings over the matter.
The whiff of ozone passed Nezu's nose and he turned around to watch as one of Kurogiri's portals opened up, like Izuku and he planned.
Izuku walked out of the portal and happily settled next to him.
Nezu chirped greeting him and immediately nuzzling into Izuku's hand when his friend reached out to scratched behind his ears.
"Good evening, Nezu." Izuku told him, "I didn't miss anything have I?" Izuku asked looking towards the laptop Nezu set up so they could watch the broadcast.
Looking towards the screen Nezu chuffed, the waiting screen was still on so neither of them had missed anything.
"That's good, got any ideas what the lineup will look like?" Izuku asked, stroking Nezu's back.
Nezu chirped back positively and Izuku got a teasing sort of smile on his face, a rarity for his friend.
"Well, if you're that confident, what do you say to a little bet?" Izuku inquired.
Nezu's tail wagged a bit faster, and he chirped again wanting Izuku to elaborate.
"We'll both write down a list of who we think the top ten will be, and whoever gets more people right wins." Izuku explained.
Nezu pondered the thought, then chirped again for more details.
Izuku hummed, rubbing his chin as he considered what the sakes would be for their bet.
"No betting money obviously. But how about one of my notebooks? I know you've wanted to look through one of my coded ones and I'll let you read one if you win." Izuku offered.
Nezu's ears perked up immediately, his tail thumping at the thought of it, but he chirped digging deeper.
"If I win?" Izuku said, taking a moment to consider it "I get to pick the bar the hero course teachers go to this year after the first day." Izuku decided.
Oh, that was not what Nezu thought Izuku would pick, and his excitement took a backseat to look his friend over curiously.
Izuku grinned back.
"I may have a couple places I would like to take them nearby, it will be... interesting for them I'm sure." Izuku told him, a little gleam in his eye.
Well what kind of friend would Nezu be if he did not indulge his friend when he felt mischievous?
Though he chirped once more.
"If it's a tie we'll just have dinner with my mom, I'm sure she'd love to meet you in person." Izuku threw out there.
Nezu chuffed a few times, rather fond of all three possible outcomes of the bet.
With a chirp Nezu agreed, bobbing his head then accepting a little notepad from Izuku and they both turned away from each other, writing down the ten names he expected to be in the top ten.
Then he turned back to the laptop, a touch of eagerness as he waited for the screen to change.
Izuku's hand came to rest on his head again, and Nezu churred licking one of Izuku's fingers.
I'll make a poll for you guys to pick who'll win
As for the current line up.
1. Hawks
2. Best Jeanest
3. Gang Orca
4. Endeavor (unfortunately)
5. Edgeshout
6. Ryukyu
7. Crust
8. Mirko
9. Wash
10. Kamui Woods