OCHAKO

"Alright everyone!" Iida shouted as 1-A and 1-B students trickled into the mall. "Pair up, and meet in the food court for lunch at precisely 1PM!"

Ochako gingerly made her way towards Izuku. "So, um, would you mind shopping with me? I don't really want to get much of anything, just look around."

"Acknowledged. We will go together."

As they wandered around, a clothing store caught Ochako's eye. "I used to dream about getting clothes from here," Ochako said in awe as she stared at a classy dress adorning a mannequin. When she saw the price tag, she winced. "Mind if I look around?"

Reverently wandering through the aisles, Ochako gave the designer clothing wide-eyed stares. A cute blouse with a stylized mochi print on the front caught her eye. She held it up and said, "What I wouldn't give to have clothes like these." Then she shook herself and slapped her cheeks. "Nope, it's fine! Thrift store clothes have their own style to them." She looked down at her faded, threadbare tanktop and torn jeans, and sighed.

Izuku's eyes lit up, and a glowing green line passed over the tanktop. "Nineteen coupons detected for selected merchandise. Calculating optimal coupon usage for maximum discount."

Izuku's mouth widened into a slit, and a whirring noise came out of him as he printed out a long slip of coupons. Ochako took the coupon trail, and as she examined it, her eyes lit up.

"Hey Izu-kun? Are there any more coupons you can find?"

The cashier of the designer store discreetly listened to pop music on his earbuds when the music abruptly switched to an Elden Ring boss theme.

Sweating, the cashier asked, "Why do I hear Dark Souls music?"

The slow, shrieking creak of shopping cart wheels caught his attention. The cashier gawked as a veritable mountain of clothing, shoved into the bulging, groaning framework of the poor shopping cart that threatened to burst apart with every rattle of its wheels, trundled its way up to his register. With a resigned internal groan, the cashier scanned each item and shoved them into shopping bags until they nearly burst.

"Alright then!" the cashier said, wiping sweat from his face, "Your total comes out to-"

"Hold on," Ochako said, "I have a few coupons."

Izuku brought a second shopping cart. If the first had been a mere mountain of clothing, this one was Everest itself. The teetering stack of coupons left paper cuts on the ceiling as it wobbled its way towards the register. When the cart stopped, the coupon pile pitched forward, burying the cashier.

The cashier held back tears as he scanned the coupon stack one discount at a time.

Ochako, carrying four bags on each arm, said in a strained voice, "That was a lot of fun. We should do that again sometime."

Izuku, having sprouted twenty arms and carrying bags in each, looked back as the cashier shuttered the doors and slapped an 'Out of Business' sign out front.

499

Had this all written, but forgot to actually post it. Whoops!