Mashirao released a soft exhale as he got off the bus and stood at a rival dojo, his tail swaying languidly behind him as he stared at the smaller and more worn building.
An arm wrapping around his neck would've made Mashirao jolt in almost any other circumstance but frankly he was far too aware of his fellow judoka's actions to react with anything other than annoyance.
"Oh don't look so glum, they might've paired you up with the rookie but we'll still get to add another win to our score." the guy said before he left to go ahead inside and Mashirao couldn't help scowling at the boy.
Judo wasn't his favorite of the martial arts, he didn't mind its rules or techniques but recently the dojo he worked at was just getting worse since the previous sensei retired and gave the dojo over to another sensei.
Looking back over his shoulder Mashirao's tail flicked from his annoyance with the blonde man who was chatting up the other sensei, he was certain that the two were probably going to be good pals with how they were laughing.
Turning away from them Mashirao walked over to the dojo's doors and entered the building, Mashirao had to admit the way things were set up wasn't that bad but he still wasn't all that happy to be here, especially when he caught sight of the fight rooster and was reminded of his fight.
Mashirao was a green belt now and he should've been paired up with someone of the same rank or of his age in the level above or below him if there wasn't enough in his belt rank, instead he'd been paired with someone with a yellow belt which made him feel slighted.
In almost any other circumstance this wouldn't happen, but the new sensei was clearly not a fan of mutation quirks like his own and was why he was given an opponent beneath his level and closer the rank his dojo's new sensei believed he 'was'.
Fortunately, his new sensei couldn't change his rank so he could keep the belt he earned but he was certain that he wouldn't be able to rank up anymore with how the man treated him, the few other mutation quirked kids he knew had already dropped out of the dojo or went elsewhere soon after the new sensei took over.
Mashirao hadn't out of loyalty to the old sensei but frankly if things like this continued to happen he'd probably drop out as well, getting a green belt was fine and if he wanted to take it up again he could later when he found another decent dojo.
Looking around he wasn't surprised to see that almost everyone in the dojo in uniform probably had emitter quirks from the lack of quirked features on them, but then he blinked surprised when he noticed a tall guy in the bleachers that had a clear mutation.
Mashirao started walking over to the guy fully intending to ask him if he knew someone at the dojo but stopped just short as anxiety welled up in him at the thought of speaking with the man.
He had a mutation quirk sure, but that didn't mean he'd be nice to Mashirao.
The guy's mutation was clearly a stronger one than his own and he had some difficult experiences with other kids that were full mutations, he did just have a tail after all.
Mashirao liked his tail, it was much stronger than some of the cutesie ones but it didn't have more than that to it, so despite having a mutation quirk he hadn't really fit in with the kids with mutation quirks with how normal he looked.
And with his large tail he didn't really have a place with anyone else, so his social circle was smaller than most kids could have but it let him focus on martial arts.
It wasn't like he didn't have any friends... he's just hadn't met any of them in person since they were his gaming friends but he chatted with them more recently to vent about the new sensei, and having them get angry on his behalf was nice even if CC's jokes about tracking the sensei down didn't always land, at least Green was there with some advice for dealing with things.
While Mashirao was lost in thought the guy must've noticed him and had moved to be closer to him and Mashirao jumped realizing how caught up in himself he had to have been to miss the guy getting so close.
Mashirao gulped and nervously gave a bow to the guy "Hello, I'm Ojiro." he managed to greet the man.
The guy nodded his head "I'm Shoji, I guess you're from the other dojo, right? My friend said they were having a tournament with another one today." Shoji asked sitting back down and Mashirao hesitantly joined him.
"Yeah, has your friend been going here long?" Mashirao politely inquired since the guy brought up his friend up first.
Shoji shrugged "I don't know, he joined around July last year so maybe... ten months? Is ten months a long time to practice Judo?" Shoji questioned clearly not well-versed in martial arts himself from what Mashirao could tell.
Mashirao didn't blame him for that though, even with MAC (Mixed Animal Combat) rising in popularity it wasn't all that common just yet in Japan and most dojos wouldn't take on someone with six arms outside of MAC ones.
"Well, it's not that long admittedly... but most people don't stick around for a year unless they're dedicated to learning it." Mashirao answered being honest and he did believe that Shoji's friend likely had a mutation quirk as well and if they managed to stick it out in a dojo like this then Mashirao had to give them props for it.
Suddenly he wasn't so sure his match up was as unfair as he might've thought it was, if this dojo's sensei was like the new one at his then Shoji's friend might've been just held back like himself, and that was why they only had a yellow belt instead of orange and therefore a perfectly valid person for him to fight.
Mashirao was about to ask about this when a shout from across the room made him stop "Oi Jiji!" and Mashirao turned to face the source of the shout and saw a guy in a sleeveless gi with a bandana grinning at the two of them.
The guy rushed over to them "What the hell are you doing all the way back there Jiji? Don't want to block everyone's view?" the guy questioned still grinning and directing his attention at Shoji.
Mashirao frowned at the insult and was about to speak up for the guy next to him, he hadn't known Shoji long but he was nice enough to him despite his mutation being not as pronounced as the older man's.
"Yeah." Shoji answered calmly cutting him off and for some reason completely fine with the insult to Mashirao's bafflement.
The boy gave an amused huff then turned to him "Whose this Jiji? Did you make a new friend?" the boy asked not that unkindly admittedly.
"This is Ojiro, he's from the other dojo. This is my friend Yosetsu." Shoji explained gesturing to the two of them respectfully as he introduced them to each other.
'Yosetsu' beamed at him and bowed to him. "Great to meet you Ojiro, I've been looking forward to my fight with you." Yosetsu said and Mashirao fumbled a bit unsure how he should respond to the guy, he seemed to be genuine and he felt somewhat embarrassed for assuming things about Yosetsu.
Before he could string a sentence together though Yosetsu's eyes clocked his belt and his eyes went wide for some reason and he turned to Shoji "Hey what color is Ojiro's belt Jiji?" Yosetsu asked causing Shoji to blink.
"Green?" Shoji answered confused shocking Yosetsu.
"What!? But I'm a yellow belt, Ojiro should be fighting someone like Honda or something not me." Yosetsu exclaimed and Mashirao felt a bit off about it.
How could he have not known they weren't the same rank when the fighters' names were the same color as their rank?
Yosetsu suddenly turned bashful and rubbed the back of his neck avoiding his eyes and Mashirao cursed himself and ducked his head too when he realized he said the question out loud.
"I'm kind of color blind, I can't see some colors, like red. And green and yellow are the same color for me. What did the docs call it? Uh, I got Pro- protanopia color blindness? I think that's the one." Yosetsu answered.
"And I noticed our belts had different designs and wasn't sure if your dojo just has different ones for the same color or, well you know." Yosetsu further elaborated for him awkwardly saying it, though Mashirao knew what he meant since the ranks of junior belts had the white part in different designs.
Well now that made Mashirao feel bad and he held up his hands "It's not that bad, I was just surprised you didn't know." Mashirao told the boy.
Yosetsu relaxed some and chuckled a little bit "Nah I understand, color blindness ain't that common but why would they pair us up in the first place?" Yosetsu replied looking lost at the situation in general.
Mashirao hesitated, mainly because after he shared a look with Shoji it seemed that Yosetsu was the only one who didn't suspect the reason, but after a moment he let his shoulders slump.
"Well, my sensei isn't quite trained to teach mutant quirked people." Mashirao said struggling to find a way to say it without being disrespectful to his new sensei.
Yosetsu however clearly read between the lines and he tsked grumbling something under his breath about as he crossed his arms "Okay so your sensei is a dick, but why would my sensei... " Yosetsu trailed off as the realization slowly connected in his head.
Yosetsu's head snapped to Shoji ''You aren't sitting back here because you don't want to block anyone's view, are you?" Yosetsu questioned and Shoji blatantly avoided Yosetsu's eyes.
"Jiji," Yosetsu said getting much more seriously "Has my dojo been giving you shit for your quirk?" Yosetsu pressed and Shoji ducked his head looking somewhat ashamed of the fact, his silence speaking volumes for both of them.
Yosetsu became incredibly angry and for a second Mashirao thought the boy was about to storm over to the dojo Senseies and curse them both out for their quirkism, but Yosetsu didn't.
Instead he took a deep breath and though he was still scowling and crossed his arms then chose to cryptically say "I'm telling Zuri."
Shoji jolted at that and immediately said "That is not necessary Awa-Kun." looking somewhat distressed by the idea but Yosetsu was firm in his resolve.
"I'm telling him." Yosetsu said back and Shoji tried once again to convince him not to tell this mysterious 'Zuri' but Yosetsu snapped back "I. Am. Telling. Him." with steel in his eyes and Shoji slumped defeated.
Yosetsu sighed "Look Jiji, if it was the other way around and people were giving me shit for my quirk you and Uki wouldn't hesitate to sick Zuri on them, and we'd all go apeshit if someone did that to Uki, that protective crap goes for you too Jiji." Yosetsu told Shoji.
Shoji bashfully ducked his head and covered his face with one of his hands to hide the part of his face his face mask didn't "... I know." Shoji admitted.
"Oh, don't be like that Jiji, you're the kid of our group so we are going to be the most protective of you." Yosetsu teasingly said with a light hit to one of Shoji's arms and the taller boy blushed more.
"Kid?" Mashirao repeated surprised.
Yosetsu hummed "Yeah, Jiji here turned fifteen last February so he's the baby of our group." Yosetsu told him jokingly as he elbowed Shoji who hissed Yosetsu's name clearly embarrassed, while Mashirao was stunned and tried to understand how he was older than the near six-foot boy next to him.
"Hey Ojiro," Yosetsu said getting his attention "I know you'll probably kick my ass when we fight later but until then do you think you can help me with my form? I suddenly don't have a lot of faith in the asshat being a good teacher now that I know he's a quirkist bitch." Yosetsu asked head tilted to the side.
Mashirao's mouth opened and he felt a bit flustered at being asked to help the other boy so plainly saying that he'd be the better teacher even if he was quite a bit crude about it, but he ultimately nodded agreeing and got a big grin from the boy in return.
"Thanks Ojiro, come on let's go over to the mat, it's over here." Yosetsu said taking Ojiro by the arm and began tugging him over to where the mats were set up for light sparring.
Mezo, called Jiji (can be an insulting way to say old man)
Izuku, called Deku (as in useless/worthless)
Ochaco: Aw, you guys have such cute nicknames.
Mezo shares a look with Izuku behind her back
Izuku: *whispers* She can never know
Mezo *nods silently*
On a more serious note I do think that there is discirmation amongst those with mutation quirks based on how it makes you look.
Like people with full body mutation (like Shuichi) being pretty aggressive and spiteful towards those with 'minor' mutations like Ojiro or those with 'cute' mutations that make them look pretty.
While people with pretty mutations would either bask in the attention they get for them or cinnamon rolls that hate being treated like dolls, and both sides would be all that friendly/sympathetic to an unattractive mutation like Ojiro.
And with this concept in mind, I had traumatized yet another blonde from canon and explained way Ojiro 'fades' into the background by being so 'ordinary' looking