Masao has never had a clear idea of what he wanted in his life other than food and a warm bed, something his father had struggled to provide for both him and his sister, and despite his father's attempt to put him through school Masao was probably going to end up entangled in the same gang his father used to run with.
That was until October of '71 when Kaori had taken it upon herself to find someone to help him with his homework, which was probably what set him off on a completely different path in life when he met Midoriya Izuku, a nervous bundle of pure energy and knowledge that changed everyone he's ever met.
Continuing his education after middle school wasn't something he entertained before meeting the greenette but having spent so much time with the boy and watching him grow to the point of having some level of confidence in his abilities was... Indescribable.
When the end of his senior year came around and his teachers were encouraging their year to think about their career choices, Masao didn't know what he wanted to do. He wasn't ambitious in any sense of the word and his quirk made a good deal of jobs unavailable because of physical inability or quirkism.
Talking with the counselor both did not and did help him pin down what he wanted to be. The woman was lazy and quirkist so she didn't give Masao any real help, but while she was spewing the company lines, he did get an idea of what he wanted to be... Someone Midoriya-San could look up to and respect.
Midoriya-San was an incredible judge of character most of the time and the people he used to look up to the most were heroes when they first met. The South Side Inferno had changed that and while Midoriya-San's feelings towards heroes were unclear, there were professional heroes he still held dear.
Gang Orca, Present Mic, and the Wild Wild Pussycats were the first to come to his mind, mainly because Midoriya-San would routinely praise them for their charity and community work, Midoriya-San respected those people for doing so much for people on top of tiring and dangerous hero work.
Masao has never desired anything other than food before but the idea of being someone Midoriya-San could respect was the closest thing to what he wanted to be. So, he looked into hero schools to see how possible it would be to join one.
His only concern would be tuition or getting to the school building, but hero schools had scholarship programs in most countries including Japan, there were even a few that gave full-ride scholarships under certain circumstances. But out of all the schools he looked at, one stood out amongst the rest... The famous U.A.
Being All Might's alma mater was only a token title at most to him and it was highly competitive regardless of the course, but it gave full rides and had one of the highest graduate survival rates since the current principal took over. Being in Musutafu was a problem but he could probably work something out with Midoriya-San's help if he got in.
So, on the chilly morning of February 26, Masao got himself bundled up and on the first of three trains he'd ride to get to U.A, his middle school wasn't the most supportive of him but he did get his hands on the mock exam so he could practice for the entrance exam.
He could have asked Midoriya-San for help and the greenette no doubt would have been his biggest supporter, Midoriya-San would undoubtedly work himself to the bone to get Masao into any hero school Masao wanted to get into, and as much as he would appreciate the support... Masao wanted to do this on his merit. If he wasn't fit to be a hero on his own, he didn't want to force himself to be one.
So other than Father, no one knew Masao was standing in front of the U.A building that morning. Perhaps if Masao was more emotional, he'd be intimidated by the grand building but as it was, he couldn't say he cared more than that the building had doors and ceilings high enough for him to not need to duck down to walk inside.
Being a seven-foot-tall lizard man got Masao a lot of looks from the other examinees though he hardly cared about that and tried to focus solely on his written exam. Sadly, growing up in the South Side conditioned Masao to always be hyper-aware of anyone's eyes being on him. On the plus side though, after a grueling two hours of trying his best to answer each question on the test, he had been mildly surprised when Present Mic came out to explain the practical test of the exam.
Well... he knew Present Mic taught here but he didn't think that someone as busy as the blonde would have the time to be an examiner on top of his other two jobs. But it was a pleasant surprise and he pondered if he could get an autograph for Midoriya-San, the greenette deserved to get nice things and Present Mic's autograph would be a great gift for him.
The instructions themselves weren't too difficult to follow and seemed ridiculously simple considering it was supposedly approved by the principal. It felt way too easy and open-ended as a test for heroics, but Masao could understand after a touch more thought.
On the surface, it blatantly favored flashy quirks but that was only if one focused on the shallow end of it. The 0-pointers were likely to represent an enemy that couldn't be easily conquered and show how examinees reacted in critical situations. And of course, Masao didn't see any rules against teaming up with other examinees in the pamphlet.
After Present Mic finished up his energetic explanation, Masao followed the rest of the examinees outside, grabbing a numbered card on the way out from one of the many Ectoplasm clones that had previously helped with the written exam. Masao found himself in test group 4 and moved over to the bus with the same number printed on it.
While waiting for the rest of the examinees to sort themselves out, Masao noticed two people out of the corner of his eye. An energetic blonde was trying to calm a boy with elf ears, the latter was shaking and looked to be seconds away from vomiting, Masao was only able to catch part of what the blonde was saying as the two approached.
"-Worry too much Sunny, just try to breathe and do what comes naturally. All you have to do is remember what you learned in practice, and you'll be a shoo-in for the Hero course!" The blonde encouraged, not that it helped "Sunny" much as he ducked his head and mumbled something Masao couldn't catch.
The blonde gave the elven boy a kind smile "I know being on your own will be scary Sunny, rules are rules. But I'm sure you'll be fine Sunny, you'll probably even meet some friendly people. And no matter what happens we'll get your favorite afterward. Okay?" The blonde tried to assure the elven boy.
Sunny shrank in upon himself as he watched the blonde walk toward another group. Masao was far from the most curious person in the world, but this "Sunny" certainly held his curiosity now. Sunny could probably tell he was being stared at but that didn't stop Masao from watching Sunny stewing in anxiety for the entire ride to the test area.
Sunny reminded Masao so much of Midoriya-San when they first met, terrified and muttering to himself. It was... Interesting to see in person, especially after meeting someone like Midoriya-San. The other examinees were openly dismissive of Sunny, seeing how shaken the guy was and not thinking he could possibly be a threat, Masao however having seen Midoriya-San's evolution firsthand knew better.
Tamaki currently found himself between wanting to throw up or fainting, wondering how Mirio ever convinced him to try out for U.A's hero course. He knew Mirio was ambitious, but did he need to try out for U.A? There were plenty of good hero schools closer to where they lived that weren't as competitive or flashy!
While Tamaki always looked up to Mirio for his courage, ambition, and confidence... He would very much like to know why he was being dragged along for the ride! Sure, he wanted to be a hero alongside Mirio and being in the same school would be fantastic, but there was no way they'd both get into U.A. He had no doubt he bombed the written test and there was no way he could make up for it in the practical test.
And to top it all off there was this tall person with a lizard quirk that wouldn't stop staring at him. Tamaki has never had a problem with mutant quirks, but this person was creeping him out because he had no idea what he'd done to get the person's sole undivided attention. He was desperately trying not to freak out on the ride to the exam grounds... but that was kind of hard when that person wouldn't stop staring right at him!
Tamaki thought that he might've gotten away from the rest of the examinees after they reached the exam grounds, and he moved as far away from the crowd as he could. He had just found someplace to curl up and cry when someone spoke up behind him "Hey." Tamaki jumped and turning he saw the lizard person looming over him *Scary!Run!Hide!* his mind loudly chanted but Tamaki was unfortunately paralyzed with fear.
"Do you want to team up?" They asked suddenly and Tamaki's brain stalled "W- w-wha...?" Tamaki questioned barely above a whisper. Did... he hear the other person, right? "I want to work with you during the exam." The other elaborated not that it helped Tamaki's confusion "W-with m-m-me...?" He croaked out shakily pointing to himself and the intimidating figure nodded.
Tamaki tried to wrap his head around this person wanting to work with him of all people, but he couldn't! Mirio told him that other potential hero students would be nicer than most people, but Tamaki didn't think any of them would work with him! Was teaming up even allowed?!
"Yes." The person flatly told him making Tamaki jolt and cover his mouth cursing himself for being so embarrassing as to mutter to himself out loud "It's fine. Do you want to team up?" The lizard repeated and Tamaki couldn't help feeling put on the spot "Y- Y-yes?" Tamaki squeaked out and the other knelt to his level "Okay. Here's my plan, we can get points by immobilizing the robots as well as points for destroying them. I'll hold them down which will give me points and then you can destroy them for your points." The guy laid out for Tamaki.
Tamaki could follow along with most of his logic, he was less intimidated when the guy wasn't looming overhead "Will you need a weapon, or can you use your quirk to destroy the robots?" He asked and Tamaki fumbled for an answer, Mirio had helped him eat a lot of foods before the exam, but he didn't know how any of them would be useful against robots.
"I-I don't t-think m-m-my quirk w-would... " Tamaki stuttered out shamefully ducking his head and covering his head with his arms. The other made an odd reptilian noise "Okay, I'll get you a weapon. Just jump on my back and hold on." The other replied and Tamaki balked "W-Wha!?" Tamaki cried but before he could question it the large gates of the exam area opened.
His new "teammate" suddenly jumped onto all fours behind him and jammed his head between Tamaki's legs. Tamaki shrieked as he slid down to his partner's back, then his teammate dashed off towards the entrance with Tamaki clinging to him tightly. Tamaki was internally losing it while praying his teammate didn't get them both hurt, his eyes squeezed shut as his partner weaved through the miniature cityscape.
After a few seconds, they came to a stop in an alley with his teammate letting Tamaki off of his back and he subsequently melted into a puddle on the ground. While Tamaki was gathering himself, his teammate jumped upon the fire escape before he ripped off one of the poles, Tamaki had about two seconds to marvel at the other's strength before he jumped down and offered the black pipe to him.
*Oh... That's what he meant by a weapon.* Tamaki dumbly thought as he timidly took the pipe "Come, let's find some robots." His partner told him. He wrapped the end of his tail around Tamaki's wrist and dragged him along to the end of the alley where his partner stood for a few seconds "There's one. Aim for the eye." He told Tamaki before could say anything the other dashed off and Tamaki watched in awe as his partner proceeded to restrain a large robot with bold yellow twos painted on its legs.
The robot was struggling but his partner kept it mostly where it stood as it tried to get his partner off its back. Tamaki watched for another few seconds before he remembered what his partner told him to do, and he moved closer gripping the pipe tightly.
His partner must have noticed Tamaki's careful approach and wrapped a thick arm around the robot's "eye stalk" before suddenly flipping the entire machine over, now upside-down Tamaki had much better access to the large red eye as the robot's legs flailed helplessly. The robot would have been able to get right back up if his partner didn't keep it in place for him with one arm and his tail tangled with the robots.
Knowing his teammate could not be that comfortable pinned by the machine Tamaki tried his best to hurry over and after a moment of arguing with himself about whether he was even strong enough to break the eye, Tamaki jammed the pipe he was given into the eye, shattering it almost instantly and went straight through the robot's head.
The robot stopped once Tamaki broke its eye, leaving him to wonder if the robots were as strong as he feared because he wasn't very strong. Tamaki couldn't ponder this for long as his partner tossed the robot husk off to the side and shook himself before standing upright again "That did not weigh as much as I thought it would. We both should have two points now." His partner commented rolling his shoulders then he moved to stand on four legs.
"Climb on. We only have ten minutes to get points." He requested reminding Tamaki of their time constraint "R-r-right!" Tamaki choked out as he awkwardly climbed onto the guy's back *Thank Kami Mirio isn't here to see me... * Tamaki thought utterly red-faced because he could already hear the embarrassing jokes his best friend would have made at Tamaki's predicament.
Most of the practical was a blur as they continued with a set routine, his partner would find or lure a robot away and drop him off to wrestle the machine so that Tamaki could stab it with the pipe. It was effective as they continued to mount up points which his partner kept track of, along with how much time they had left... which Tamaki was very thankful as between his general anxiety over their team up and the sheerly madding embarrassment of riding his partner for most of the exam would have made it impossible for him.
Occasionally they'd run into other examinees and Tamaki had tried to help them a couple of times but after one girl snapped at him Tamaki couldn't bring himself to try again after that. But as they reached the two-minute mark something happened that caused the ground to shake, and Tamaki watched in horror as a massive robot rose out of the ground and proceeded to knock down a ten-story building.
His partner dragged Tamaki away as he had, unfortunately, froze in the face of the 0-pointer and his mind was scrambled as he tried to think but his mind simply couldn't comprehend anything other than the 0-pointer's rampage. However, through his panic, he heard someone cry out and his head snapped towards the sound... With his heart-stopping upon seeing a girl pinned by some rubble.
The girl was directly in the 0-pointer's path and if that wasn't bad enough Tamaki felt as if the world was in slow motion as a large chunk of build crumbled and was going to crush the trapped girl. The world tilted off its axis and Tamaki did something he never thought he would and ripped his wrist from his teammate's grip.
Tamaki ran towards the girl as fast as possible only slowing down once to grab a bite-sized bit of concrete, quickly swallowing it and in the next second, Tamaki was standing over the girl. with the rubble about hit them both and Tamaki quickly threw his arms up and desperately activated his quirk.
He nearly collapsed and he painfully squeaked as he was hit with the full weight of the rubble, but Tamaki held it to the best of his ability. Forcing most of his body to lock up when it turned to stone to keep them both from being hurt any further, but he was able to see the girl in the corner of his eye and she stared up at him petrified with tears falling "I-I... " She choked out before her reddish-brown eyes snapped to the side and she screamed.
Tamaki turned his head and saw a decent-sized chunk of rubble sailing towards them fast. Tamaki swore his life flashed before his eyes, but before it could hit, a blur of black, white, and orange leaped at the chunk. Tamaki began to cry utterly relieved upon watching his partner whack the rubble away with his tail. His teammate didn't waste a second and flipped the rubble off of Tamaki's back as soon as he was back on his feet.
Tamaki collapsed to his knees after he released his quirk having far passed his limits to keep himself and the girl from being crushed. his partner grabbed the rubble trapping the girl and also tossed it away, then he got on all fours "Get on my back." His partner told them and despite his body being shot Tamaki grabbed the girl's wrist and scrambled onto the guy's back with the still shaking girl.
As soon as Tamaki and the girl were secure his partner took off with the 0-pointer hot on their heels. After a nerve-wracking minute, a loud alarm blared through the air and his partner stopped as Present Mic announced the end of the exam. Tamaki felt like a weight had been removed from his chest and he took a deep breath as he tried to remember how many points they had collected.
*Was it thirty-two or thirty-four...?* Tamaki wondered but it was hard to focus with how light-headed he suddenly felt. He tried to step off of his partner's back, but his legs were like jelly and he was about to fall and hit the ground. However, someone caught him but before he could see who it was, Tamaki's vision went black as he passed out.