Being fawned over by Miyake's sister Kaori was a decent enough distraction for Tamaki, being flustered over his little 'fan' cooing at him instead of the fact he was about to embarrass himself in a few minutes. Watching his friends during their fights had only cemented the fact that he wasn't going to win his fight, he only hoped that it would be over soon so he wouldn't have to be out there for long.
The two fights didn't drag themselves out with one of Mirio's classmates and the Smith girl from Gen-Ed being the respective winners of their matches, and so it was finally his dreaded turn to go on down and fight. Miyake's little sister seemed to be the most enthusiastic somehow out doing both Mirio and Hado "It's Jiki-Chan's turn now, he's going to kick that Ueno's butt!" Kaori optimistically proclaimed.
Tamaki felt his heart twist at that, mainly because Kaori was going to be so disappointed in him when he lost and he didn't want her to be upset with him because she reminded him so much of his cousins and hated it when they looked at him like that… but he also knew he wasn't going to win this like Kaori thought he would.
"Yeah, go kick that guy's butt Jiki." Oswald lazily encouraged and he whimpered back burying his face in his hands. Why did his friends have to be so overconfident in his abilities? It just made him feel even worse when he failed. Not wanting anyone else to pile on their unfounded hopes onto him Tamaki jumped to his feet and hurriedly left the booth.
He had no doubt in the fact he was going to lose out there, even if Miyake slipped him some of his scales he had seen how powerful and strong Mirio's classmates were and he could hardly hold his own against his own against his friends, and that wasn't including the whole mountain-sized ball of stress that sat squarely on his shoulders knowing the entire world had their eyes on him.
Shakily Tamaki stumbled down the hall trying to stop his hands from trembling by hugging himself, he just wanted to get this over with as soon as he possibly could *Maybe I can just forfeit and spare everyone the embarrassment, but what if that just makes them even more disappointed with me because I wouldn't even fight after all they've done to get me this far?* Tamaki thought flinching between whether or not he'd rather die of embarrassment on the stage or of his friend's disappointment.
Before he came to any conclusion of which was the lesser of the two evils someone put a hand on his shoulder scaring the living hell out of him. Whipping around he saw Mirio who quickly raised his hands in surrender. "Hey no need to be so jumpy Sunny, it's just me." Mirio joked and Tamaki sighed, hugging himself again.
Mirio ruffled his hair and Tamaki looked up at his friend "You'll be great out there Sunny, no matter what you do okay, just do what you can. You can't mess up as bad as I did ya know? But if you somehow flub it up I'm sure Oz will let you have his other arm, so try not to overthink it, you've already earned your place, got it." Mirio told him with a wink and bumped his shoulder with his.
Tamaki's eyes pricked with tears, and he ducked his head to avoid looking at Mirio after he placed just another stone to uncomfortably sit in his stomach. Mirio hadn't meant it on purpose and Tamaki knew Mirio understood his anxiety better than he did sometimes, and that Mirio just wanted to reassure him that their friends would always be there for him, but Mirio was just unfairly raising the bar.
"Want me to walk you down Sunny?" Mirio offered not sounding anything less than supportive, making the twinge in Tamaki's heart even worse "N-no thanks." He muttered as walked on "Well okay, if you say so. We'll be waiting for you up in the booth Sunny." Mirio agreed and he heard Mirio returning to the booth.
Alone again Tamaki exhaled and continued on to his destination and felt like he was frozen as he looked out of the tunnel. He really didn't want to go out there to embarrass himself but if he wanted to forfeit he needed to go out there at least, and when he heard Mic-Sensei gave the opening lines for the battle introducing himself and his opponent Ueno Tamaki bit his lip and walked out with his eyes locked onto the ground and wishing he could just tune the crowd out.
Master-Sensei began speaking and Tamaki knew this was the last chance to backout but now that he was here on the field, he just couldn't find his voice "Do both of you understand the rules as I have explained them?" Master-Sensei questioned making the lump in his throat even harder to swallow and he asked himself why he hadn't said he was forfeiting yet.
*Maybe, I can try… for my friends, I shouldn't just walk away after all of the work they've done to get me here.* Tamaki considered in his head and then he fought the urge to turn on his heel and bolt for the nearest broom closet, a thought that was becoming ever so tempting as he risked a glance up at 1-A's booth and seeing his friends cheering him on Tamaki found the nerve to numbly nod his head.
"Good, the fight will start in 10, 9, 8," Master-Sensei began the countdown and Tamaki desperately searched inside himself for some sliver of courage so that he could at least last for a few seconds in the ring, where was that last minute burst of confidence that was supposed to show up when he needed it?
"Start!" Master-Sensei suddenly shouted catching him off guard and Tamaki looked up in time to see that Ueno was rushing at him just like everyone else in the fights before had. Fear had locked up his legs despite how harshly his mind was screaming for him to move or else he would be bulldozed by the brunette.
Regaining control just in the nick of time Tamaki leapt to the side and tried to crawl away as fast as he could only kicked very hard in the stomach because he wasn't fast enough and flew across the ring just short of the borderline. Naturally the kick completely knocked the wind out of him, and he coughed as he clutched his sore abdomen.
*Ooh, that can't have felt good for Amajiki. Not with a strength quirk like Ueno's, I wouldn't be surprised if Amajiki chose to wave the fight after a blow like that.* Mic-Sensei commented and Ueno having a strength quirk certainly explained why his side hurt more than he expected it to.
*Dammit… I can't even dodge properly, much less fight one on one against someone like him. How is someone like me supposed to be a hero? I can't even look my friends in the eye half the time.* Tamaki thought, cursing himself as he buried himself in his spiraling thoughts.
"God you can't really be this pathetic, is this the level of competence expected for 1-A? It's no wonder your class is so far behind, even when Aizawa-Sensei dropped almost half of your class." Ueno scoffed under his breath and Tamaki felt the jab deep in his core.
Because wasn't he? Tamaki was a complete pushover a majority of the time and he always froze up when he was in tense situations like this, how could he ever think he could become a hero? He's just been coasting on dumb luck and the support of his friends to get through everything.
"At least that hyper-active blue brat gave a decent fight, though if she wasn't such a massive airhead, she might've actually won against that gearhead and kept that little promise she made in her speech." Ueno spat as he began walking towards him, but Tamaki's mind was still caught up on what he just said.
*What? Hado isn't an airhead, she's excitable and can get distracted sometimes but she had to work on her quirk so much to double jump, and I know how hard she's been working just for today.* Tamaki argued back in his head as stumbled back to his feet, only for Ueno to yank his arm and send him crashing back to the ground face first, Tamaki heard the crack of his nose well before the sharp splitting pain came from the middle of his face.
Tamaki whimpered his hand going straight to broken nose to try and stop the bleeding "That big dumb lizard wasn't much better letting himself be tased but at least that lummox fucking won." Ueno commented tripping Tamaki as he once again tried to stand up.
*Miyake's not some dumb lizard, he knows so much about heroics and he always makes sure that I'm not overwhelmed or he gives me somewhere to hide when I-* Tamaki's thoughts were interrupted as Ueno punched him in the gut knocking him across the ring, so Tamaki had to try not to choke on the blood from his nose in addition to trying to breath after that hit.
"And at least the bubblegum princess put up an actual fight against Kido, unlike that, Haya, was it? The dumbass didn't do anything but wait for Saki to run out of steam." Ueno jeered and Tamaki, now on all fours and clutching his bloody nose found a small part of him thinking that Ueno was saying these things purposely to upset him.
And he was pretty sure it was working to some degree as his annoyance sat on the tip of his tongue *S-shut up! You don't know how much it hurts Haya's hands to do a mini-strike and they were still stinging when I came down to fight you! And Oswald won his fight because he has an amazing mental will power to manipulate his body and control multiple limbs!* Tamaki shouted back tears building in the corner of his eyes, feeling slightly pathetic he couldn't even find the will to defend his friends out loud.
"Though I guess I can't really be saying too much shit given my class got sacked with that damn streaker, seriously how the fuck did anyone look at that nudist and think he should be a part of hero course?" Ueno spat, his voice getting slightly louder as he walked towards Tamaki.
Tamaki felt his body rigidly lock up as his mind blanked. Countless memories of Mirio's training flooded his mind, of him trying desperately to find some way to use his quirk with losing his clothes, of Mirio attempting to learn some fighting moves from videos online, and every single time Mirio had smiled despite having been forced to apologize for being so clumsy or accidently flashing someone with his quirk.
And to hear this, meathead dismiss all of that out of hand made unfamiliar feelings bubble up under skin and he gritted his teeth as all the sounds he could hear blurred together "Hey, are you even listening you wretch?" Ueno angrily questioned his hand reaching out to grab Tamaki by the hair, having not seen most Tamaki's reaction since he wasn't facing his opponent and his body hadn't moved an inch.
What followed happened so fast no one realized until it already had.
Just when Ueno was about to grab Tamaki's hair he whirled around and bit down on Ueno's hand hard. "Gah!" Ueno cried trying to yank his hand away, but Tamaki only sunk his teeth in deeper *Take it back.* a voice in Tamaki's mind demanded, subconsciously acknowledging it when Ueno's blood started filling his mouth.
Tamaki's teeth might look normal but they were hard enough for him to chew through metal without much trouble and his jaw had the strength to back it up so it wasn't surprising that despite Ueno's quirk he couldn't free his hand from Tamaki's jaws. Tamaki instead let the brunette pull him to his feet before he stomped down his foot stopping Ueno from fully retracting his arm.
Ueno's face scrunched up even more and he tried again to yank his hand free this time with the aid of his quirk, but Tamaki did not move one inch. Using the increased strength from the ants in the candy Miyake gave him earlier Tamaki easily stayed in place as indigo scales crept their way across his body.
"What the fuck you freak! Let me go!" Ueno shouted still trying to get his hand free, Tamaki's now reptilian eyes narrowed as his fury only grew *Take. It. Back.* Tamaki thought growling as his teeth turned into fangs then bit even harder, a small part of his lizard brain gleefully enjoying it when he felt the satisfying snap of the bones in his mouth and Ueno's scream shortly after.
Turning his legs into something more ant like Tamaki suddenly jerked his head upwards bringing Ueno up into the air before slamming him down into the ground much like Miyake had done in his fight earlier. Only now that Ueno was flat on the ground in a painfully daze did Tamaki finally released his hand to get right in the boy's face.
"Take it back." Tamaki hissed under his breath the venom being completely foreign but welcome on his tongue. Their noses almost touching from how close he was to Ueno, who recoiled almost immediately, but Tamaki possessed by these new feelings didn't let him just crawl away and slammed his hands which he quickly turned to be like Miyake's onto Ueno's pinning the boy who let out a yelp.
"Take it back." Tamaki snarled the demand his mind had been screaming since Ueno brought up Mirio "Jesus! Fine, f-fine! I'm sorry saying Togata shouldn't be here, a-and that shit I said about y-your friends!" Ueno cried and Tamaki stood up letting go of Ueno's hands and the boy now free didn't waste a second to scramble away from Tamaki.
That 'apology' didn't pacify the anger that made his body tremble in a way it never had before and Tamaki stepped forward about to get a proper one "Enough! The match is over. Ueno has crossed the borderline of the ring, Amajiki is the winner." Master-Sensei declared knocking Tamaki out from his fugue state and back to where he was.
In the U.A. sports festival stadium and that his opponent Ueno's bloody hand on the wrong side of the white line of the ring, something that made him the winner of his fight with a crowd of people cheering for him, an outcome that Tamaki never could have dreamed of happening had become reality much like the entrance exam back in February.
Tamaki turned to Ueno who looked just as shocked about the match suddenly being over and took in the bloody hand he had broken and would have felt horrible about doing something so awful to someone but a sudden cheer of "You're amazing Jiki-Chan! Woo!" cut through all the noise and he turned towards 1-A's booth.
Hado and Haya were front and center with Mirio holding up an ecstatic Kaori who was leading the mini cheer-squad "You did it Sunny!" Mirio cried knowing he'd hear them despite the distance.
"Nice work out there Jiki!" Oswald yelled out leaning on the balcony "Jiki-Chan is going to the next round!" Hado exclaimed "And you're going to win again!" Haya added right after "Because Jiki-Chan is going to be one of the best heroes ever!" Kaori proudly shouted with Miyake giving a short nod.
Tamaki felt his heart flip in his chest watching all his friends cheering for him and his mouth traitorously turned into a wobbly smile as the rest of the world sort of tuned itself out as he watched Hado start a round of three cheers between all his friends.
And as I think everyone knows, jellyfish don't need a single bone to completely fuck someone's life up, much less a backbone.