Chapter Text
It wasn’t new for Tenko to struggle mentally. In fact, he had been struggling mentally continuously for the past 11 years. His adoptive mother, Inko Midoriya, never stopped worrying about him, and his adoptive younger brother, Izuku Midoriya, was his only friend.
So when Tenko told Inko Midoriya randomly one spring day that he was going to try out for the UA entrance exam, Inko was thrilled. She hugged him tightly and cried a little bit, and while Tenko rolled his eyes and groaned, he knew that she was overwhelmed with knowing he wanted to do something with his life.
That was two years ago. Now Tenko stood at the entrance to the UA exam area and his heart was racing, and not in the good way. He was almost worried he might puke up his breakfast, but before he could think about it too much an alarm went off and suddenly everyone was running into the exam area.
Tenko started a light jog. Soon he couldn’t even see anyone else. Crashes and bangs and screams echoed all around him, but he couldn’t see any of the action. A tiny bit of worry crept up his spine, so he started running a little faster, turning a corner.
The second he turned the corner he was almost stepped on by a 2 pointer. He yelped and jumped back before tapping it and running past, not even bothering to look back at the disintegrating robot.
After that, Tenko got into the swing of things. Soon the air in the exam area was thick with dust left over from Tenko’s quirk. Some of the students had stopped trying altogether and were instead watching Tenko easily take down every robot he saw. Other students were gritting their teeth and racing past him to take down robots before he could reach them. Some were successful. Some were not.
Suddenly, the ending alarm sounded. Tenko stopped running so fast he almost tripped. The dust settled a little, and he could see the other students. Some were grinning. Some were crying. Some were injured. A lot were glaring at him. Tenko shrunk a little and pulled his custom gloves out of his back pocket and put them on while trying to make himself look as small as possible.
“Freak,” someone spat. Tenko winced and started walking out of the exam area. Present Mic yelled from the speakers that the results of the test would be out in two days just as he left the gate.
Two days crawled by. Izuku wouldn’t stop asking Tenko if he got in, and eventually Tenko locked himself in his room and refused to eat.
Eventually, two days went by and Tenko was shaken awake by a teary eyed Inko.
“Tenko,” she said, wringing her hands and shaking. “Your letter came! Can I watch you open it?”
“Mm,” Tenko nodded. That funny nauseous feeling overcame him, and he sat up and took the letter from his mother’s hands.
He opened it carefully. He read it. Inko watched him as he scanned it with no expression. She started trembling.
“Honey?” she said. “Did you get in?”
Tenko looked up at her and grimaced tiredly. “Yeah,” he said, handing her back the letter. “First place.”
“That’s incredible!” Inko gasped, squealing as she read the letter. Tenko flinched and laid back down, turning away from his mother.
“Aren’t you excited darling?” she asked worriedly.
“Bad last night,” Tenko answered. Inko’s heart sank.
“Well,” she said softly. “I’m so proud of you. When school ends tomorrow I’ll make sashimi for dinner.”
“Thanks mom,” Tenko murmured. Inko turned off the light and left the room, closing the door as quietly as she could.
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“Do you have everything you need, Tenko?” Inko asked, wringing her hands nervously. Tenko smiled at her, a rare thing, and nodded.
“Goodbye, mom,” he said, shouldering his backpack and opening the front door.
“I love you!” Inko called after him.
“I love you too,” Tenko replied.
The bus ride was more crowded than usual, and Tenko wondered if any of his new classmates were on the same bus with him. Probably not, but it was a possibility, right?
At precisely 7:48, the bus pulled up to the bus stop and Tomura scrambled to get out.
“Mmm,” he sighed, breathing deeply and clearing his lungs of old bus smell. Today would be a better day, he was sure of it.
Turning slightly to shift his backpack to his left shoulder, he saw a boy about his age with dark brown hair standing near him and staring into space. There was a white stick poking from his mouth.
“Are you smoking?” Tomura asked without thinking. The boy looked over at him, then crossed his eyes to look down at the supposed cigarette, then laughed.
“This is a lollipop,” he said, taking it out of his mouth and showing Tenko.
“Oh,” Tenko muttered, hiding behind his bangs.
“You know,” said the boy, “I’ve gotten that question three times now. I should just start telling people that yeah, I smoke.” Tenko laughed weakly. There was awkward silence.
“Well,” said the boy. “I have to go. Bye!”
Both Tenko and the boy started walking down the sidewalk in the same direction.
“Oh,” Tenko groaned.
“Where are you going?” the boy asked. Tenko shrugged and looked away.
“UA,” he said quietly.
“No way!” the boy grinned. “That’s where I’m going!”
“Really?”
“Really! I’m Sacchi Shoyo, what’s your name?”
“I’m Tenko Shimura,” Tenko said. “Aren’t you the guy who got in on recommendations?”
“Aren’t you the guy who got the highest score during the entrance exam?” Sacchi countered. “Your quirk is incredible.”
“Thank you,” Tenko blushed, hiding behind his bangs once again. “Most people say it’s a villain quirk.”
“They say the same about mine,” Sacchi nodded. “I don’t think your quirk is villainous. It would be an insane rescue hero quirk.”
“That’s what I want to be!” Tenko gasped.
“That’s so cool!” Sacchi grinned.
“Yeah,” Tenko grinned back.
They walked together the remaining block to UA, and laughed when they found out they were both in class 1-A with Aizawa. They both immediately shut up and became moody when other students entered the class, however, and Tenko thought to himself that he and Sacchi were scarily alike.
The other kids were loud and hyper, and Tenko sneaked a look at Sacchi from across the room to find him staring off into space again, sucking on his lollipop.
“Welcome class,” a monotone voice cut into the chittering. Almost immediately there was quiet. In the doorway stood a man in a yellow sleeping bag with long greasy hair and unkempt stubble.
“My name is Aizawa,” he said, glancing around the class. “We’re starting off the day with a little pop quiz.”
Loud groans ensued, and Tenko was pretty sure he heard one boy call Aizawa-sensei a motherfucker.
“We’re going to the gym.”