The scent of dinner cooking greeted Izumi the moment she entered her apartment, normally she'd be bothering her mom about what she was cooking, sampling the wares, and even helping out a bit, but every single part of her body was screaming at her to go lay down and not move for a solid twenty or so minutes.

When she had been told that swimming was a full bodied workout, she hadn't been made aware of just how much of a workout that entailed. The first few days had been pretty all right, mostly getting comfortable in the water, watching Nejire and Kuro-sensei demonstrate various strokes, and swimming techniques, and then learning those techniques herself. Sure, she had felt tired after those days too, but it wasn't that bad.

Today.

Today was hell.

It was what Kuro-sensei had referred to as an endurance day. Which basically meant swim until someone said stop. Izumi wasn't sure how many laps she did, she stopped counting when she got past one hundred.

She fell onto the couch with a solid oof, her bag sliding along beside her.

Maybe it was called the breaststroke because it would make her breasts bigger?

"That would explain Kuro-sensei's chest," Izumi muttered and reached for her the iPod Momo had given her. It was surprisingly useful! So long as there was wifi—which most of her school had—she could message Momo—and Nejire—, listen to internet radio, and google random stuff. She even downloaded a couple games! Offline she could use it for a lot of things too, but so far it was like having a computer in her pocket.

Google: Does the breaststroke

Google Autofill: Does the breaststroke build muscle? Does the breaststroke tone your stomach? Does the Breaststroke increase your bust size? Does the breaststroke make you—

Oh! There the third one.

"Health benefits of the breaststroke, blah, blah, blah, tones arms, legs, stomachs, increases lung capacity and works out the heart, increases endurance and stamina, oh, so that's why Nejire liked it so much, would I act like her if I did a thousand laps a day?" Izumi flopped onto her back, and stared intently at her iPod. Well if she didn't believe Nejire and everyone else on the benefits of swimming, then she sure did now. "Oh, breasts," She muttered, staring at her phone.

Firms and shappens.

That was good.

Oh, did the same with her butt.

She wanted to be one of the really pretty heroes! Like Ryukyu! Or that new hero that everyone was talking about! Miruko! She was awesome!

"Izumi?" Her mother said in a quiet tone.

Izumi looked up and saw her mother looking at her with a confused look. Was she in trouble? Did she forget something again? Oh Maybe she was worried about school or something? "What's up mom?"

"Where did you get," Inko pointed right at her iPod. "That."

That that was the kind of that, that had a bit of a weight to it.

"Huh?" She looked at her iPod for a few moments and then looked back up at her mother. "This?"

"Yes."

"Oh, uhh, well, Momo gave it to me." Izumi sat up to look her mom better in the eyes.

Inko raised an eyebrow. "For free?"

"Yeah…" Izumi looked at the iPod again. "Uhh, she said it was her old one and that she wanted to talk to me."

Her mother let out a long heavy sigh, and gave a light frown. "You're not using Momo, are you?"

"Huh?"

"I mean for her money dear, she spoils you, the first day she met you she bought you dinner, and a couple of shirts, and now she's given you something so expensive?" Her mother pushed her legs off the couch and sat down next to Izumi with a light huff. "It sounds to me like she's trying to buy your friendship."

Izumi wanted to protest, but, it was hard to, especially with how each memory of Momo trying to buy her something popping into her head like a bag of popcorn. It wasn't just the shirt, or the iPod, it was at lunch too, Momo would always offer Izumi something from the vending machine, at first Izumi thought that it was just Momo trying to be nice, which Momo was, but, was what her mom saying true?

"But, Momo's my friend!"

"I know sweety, I know, but, let her know that even if she isn't buying you expensive things," Her mom grabbed the iPod for a few moments before handing it back. "You're still her friend, and ask her if that was really used, alright?"

Izumi blinked and frowned, should she wait until tomorrow or message Momo now?

Maybe she should ask Nejire-senpai for advice? Even if Nejire talked a lot it wasn't like she gossiped, well she did, but she never spread gossip, or, at least Izumi hadn't seen her do that.

Was it okay to do it at school? They'd have to find someplace private. Would that be okay?

"Hmm," Izumi stared at the messenger screen for a long time, so far her only friends were Momo, Nejire, and some swim club members that were in a group chat that Nejire had—forced—her to join. The only one that actually message her directly was the white haired Spee, though that was a short lived conversation consisting of a 'Hello' and a 'Hi.'

A message from Momo appeared on her phone.

Momo: Would you like to have lunch with me on the roof tomorrow?

Perfect!

Izumi: That sounds like a lot of fun!

Momo: Excellent! I'll bring a bento box for both of us!

What? No! That was the opposite!

Izumi: Wait! What if we both make a bento box and then share?

Momo: Are you certain?

Izumi: Yes! It sounds like fun right?

Momo: I agree! That sounds like a great time! I'm looking forward to your meal.

"Mom!" Izumi climbed over the back of the couch and headed towards the kitchen. "I need to make a bento box to share with Momo tomorrow!"

XXXX

If Izumi's bento box was the equivalent of a one bedroom apartment, Momo's bento box was a three story townhouse that had a yard and a pool.

"I thought you weren't going to bring me one." Izumi let her mouth drop as she looked at the bento box that looked like it was large enough to feed her and her mother for dinner.

Momo, bit her lip and stared at her box and then looked towards Izumi's. "Umm, well when you said you wanted to share, I might have gone a bit overboard, and I umm," Momo blushed and held up a fancy looking thermos, "Tea?"

Well, so much for beating around the bush.

Izumi sighed and sat down next to Momo, and stared out across the virtual garden that was on top of Haruno Junior, there were planter boxes everywhere and even a few trees maintained by the bonsai club. It really was a beautiful place, it was almost like a date.

"Momo, umm, why do you keep buying me stuff?"

"Oh, how did you find out that iPod was new?"

"It's new?!" Izumi stood up and grabbed at her messy unkempt hair. "What? Why?"

"I'm sorry, but I just really wanted to talk to you more, and, and," Momo bit her lip trailing off. "This isn't how I thought today would go. I'm sorry, Izumi, I umm, I—" Momo stood to leave, her face was downward.

Izumi wanted to scream, she flailed her arms and then ran towards Momo, she accidentally pushed her against the wall, tripping over her still mildly jello legs, she caught herself by slamming her hand against the wall right next to Momo's head.

Momo looked at her with wide slightly teary eyes, hands clutched over her chest. "Izumi?"

Pinning a girl that was taller than her was more than a little weird, but it didn't matter, She was going to deal with this now. "Momo!"

"Eep!" Momo covered her mouth and stared at Izumi with quivering eyes.

"Look, I'm not sure what's going on, but, if you feel like you need to buy me stuff to get me to like you, then stop!" Izumi closed her eyes, hoping that she could find the right thing to say inside her eyelids. "I mean, the stuff is nice and all, but it feels weird, I think we need to become better friends before you start buying me stuff, not the other way around." She winced. What the hell was she saying. "Or something?"

She opened her eyes and saw Momo still standing against the wall, hands over her mouth, her eyes were wide and filled with tears.

"Izumi!" Momo fell forward, wrapping her arms around Izumi and placing her weight against her, which, naturally Izumi's complete and utter fatigue from swim practice yesterday caused both of them to fall to the ground. "I'm sorry! I didn't know what to do!"

"Guh!" Izumi flailed her leg for a moment but stopped and just embraced Momo's awkward hug. "Do with what?"

Momo sniffled for a moment. "I just, I just really liked you and I thought that if I bought you stuff, then maybe you'd like me too, so, I umm, I'm sorry, I'm not really good at any of this."

A smile pulled on Izumi's lips as she patted Momo's back. "Hey, I like you too, so don't worry about it, and I mean, the only other friends I've had destroyed my stuff, and aren't my friends anymore, so as far as I'm concerned you're, like the best friend ever."

"I am?" Momo sat up, wiping away a few red eyed tears.

"You are." Izumi let that smile win and propped herself up. "So, let's do stuff that doesn't involve a lot of money, alright?"

"Oh," Momo's shoulders slumped. "Okay, uhh, I can try, but, umm, what would that involve?"

Izumi shrugged. "We can have a sleepover, talk about boys, and watch a bunch of movies and stuff."

"Do we have to talk about boys?" Momo stood and extended a hand towards Izumi.

"Nope! That's the best part about a sleepover! You can do whatever it is that you want." Izumi took the offered hand and found herself hoisted up easily. "We can even just listen to terrible music, or, try gross food! Or have a pillow fight, or, I don't know, stuff!"

Momo laughed, a few tears almost spoiling her smile. "That sounds delightful, umm, would you like to have a sleepover this weekend?"

"Sure!"

"And can we comb your hair?" Momo asked with a lopsided smile.

"Huh? Why?"

"Because it's messy and it's been bugging me for a long time."

"My mom says it eats combs."

Momo pulled a comb out of her arm and smiled. "I got a supply."

"Alright, sure, we'll have a sleepover and you can comb my hair."

AN: Lol, posting this at like 2:30 am woo!