The U.A. cafeteria was bustling with activity as Ochako picked out her meal. As usual, she made to sure to grab more than she could eat. Nearby students gave her a few looks as she piled on food, but she was more than used to them by now.

Once she felt she had enough, she headed for her usual spot where her friends were waiting: Midoriya, Iida, Asui, and…

"Hey!" Mina waved with a big smile on her face as the brunette walked over. The others greeted her as she got closer.

"Hey guys." She sat down next to Mina on the end of the table. Midoriya sat across from her, with Iida next to him. Asui sat on the other side of Mina. Midoriya and Iida were in the middle of a conversation about what they had just gone over in class. They both seemed quite enthusiastic about the history of hero laws.

Ochako sighed lightly as she watched them go, starting on her meal. The two brainiacs were two of her first friends she made here, and she was very close to both of them. Midoriya especially; she really admired his conviction and ingenuity.

But the fact that neither of them really had an off switch was… Annoying sometimes. Their dedication to their studies and future careers was a good quality to have of course, especially for a school like this. But sometimes it got to be a bit much. Sometimes Ochako didn't want to talk about heroes or school or any of that. Sometimes she just wanted to talk about random nonsense like most people her age did.

Luckily, there was someone who could fulfill that want for her.

"Oh my god you guys, look at this!" Mina held up her phone, showing it off to everyone around her. "Isn't this just the cutest?"

"I prefer frogs, but that is quite cute," Asui said in her usual flat tone.

"Is that sanitary…?" Iida muttered.

"That's… A lot of bunnies," Midoriya noted. When it finally got to Ochako, she squealed a bit.

On Mina's phone was a small clip of a woman more or less getting buried by dozens of bunnies as she fed them. The cute little furballs climbed all over as they tried to get at the food being offered, noses twitching.

"That's adorable!" Ochako squeaked, hands on her cheeks. She honestly felt a bit jealous of the woman.

"I know, right? Apparently there's, like, as island full of them you can visit!" Mina was bouncing in her seat a bit as she said this.

"No way!" Her friend went bug-eyed. Could such a place really exist? How had she not heard of it?

"Yes way! We totally need to go sometime!"

Ochako had never met anyone quite like Mina. The pinkette was one of the most energetic, fun-loving, and all-around happy people she had ever met. Though she hadn't been friends with her as long as she had with Midoriya and Iida, Ochako honestly felt a bit closer to Mina in some regards. While they both certainly cared about their careers as heroes (They both made it to the final round of the Sports Festival, after all), it wasn't their entire lives like it seemed to be for the two workaholics. Ochako could actually talk about other things with Mina without them somehow always looping back to heroics or some sort of lecture. Such as their love for all things cute and fuzzy.

The two would often hang out outside of school, typically at Mina's house. Ochako had gotten pretty familiar with her family and enjoyed their company. Mr. and Mrs. Ashido were very much like their daughter in a lot of ways, both being extremely friendly and kind-hearted. And Makoto, as immature as he could be, was sweet enough. It was admittedly funny to watch he and his sister always bicker.

The only downside to spending time with Mina was that she wanted to constantly go places. Ochako had to exercise a lot of willpower not to spend whenever they did.

Such as right now.

"Absolutely, that sounds… Wait." As much as the impoverished girl wanted to go to this wonderful place, she had to face reality. Uh… How much do trips there cost?"

"Huh?" Mina calmed down a bit too. "Oh, uh, let me see…" She took a moment to search with her phone. After a few moments, Ochako saw her wince.

"Yikes," she said. "That, uh, that's not cheap." Ochako sighed, shoulders falling a bit.

"How much…?" Mina simply showed her the phone again, which was now on a webpage with prices for the island.

Well beyond what the brunette could afford right now.

"I mean, I could probably save my allowance up…" Mina trailed off as her friend shook her head.

"It's fine. We'll just put a rain check on it, okay?"

Mina – and all of Ochako's friends – were at least somewhat aware of her financial situation. She had admitted her family wasn't that well off and that she wanted to be a hero mostly to make money to help them, and she had explained that she currently lived alone due to how far away her parents lived. None of them had actually seen her place, however.

They tried not to pry into too much, though Mina couldn't help herself sometimes. She was a naturally nosy person, for better or worse, and was always offering to pay for things for Ochako whenever they went out together. She turned the offers down every time of course, partially due to pride though mostly because of guilt. While she appreciated the gesture, she simply didn't want to be a burden on her friend.

The pair continued to converse as they ate, the rest of the table joining in the conversation here and there. Mina brought up something new nearly every minute, usually relating to the newest thing she discovered on her phone. Cute and funny pictures, some random article that may or may not have been true, basically anything that didn't relate to school. It certainly made for a lively lunch period.

After Ochako decided she'd eaten enough, she opened up her backpack.

"Whoops, guess I wasn't as hungry as I thought," she said to nobody in particular. "Well, no reason to waste it." Pulling out a plastic container, she began scooping what remained of her meal into it. Nobody else said anything; they were pretty used to this behavior by now. It may have seemed weird, but they all agreed it was better than just tossing the leftovers.

Lunch ended a few minutes later, and students began clearing out of the cafeteria to finish their classes for the day. As the 1A group walked together, Mina got up next to Ochako.

"So, Ochako," she started. "You got anything going on after school today?" Her friend shook her head.

"Probably just staying after for some studying and then heading home." As was her routine most days. "Why, did you want to do something?"

"Yeah, we got the day off tomorrow so I was thinking we could have a sleepover!" Ochako smiled as Mina suggested this.

They'd had sleepovers at Mina's house a couple times now; it was a frequent suggestion for Saturday nights. They were always a blast, and Ochako rarely had a reason to say no.

"Sounds great! What time should I head over?" Not only did this mean spending more time with Mina, but it also meant getting to sleep in an actual bed tonight. And getting a nice breakfast. And just not being, well, alone.

Ochako realized she was being a bit selfish thinking that sort of stuff, and it did honestly make her feel a little bad. It was why she never asked to come over, instead only waiting until Mina invited her to spend the night. Inviting herself over would be rude, after all.

Of course, she could always suggest they spend the night at her place, but…

Mina had actually asked if they could do that once or twice, but Ochako would always change the subject. Fortunately, the pink girl had a pretty erratic attention span and would soon forget that she even brought it up. Ochako obviously didn't like doing it; it felt a bit manipulative, and it seemed unfair that they only ever spent time at Mina's place. But it just wouldn't be fun hanging out in that crappy apartment.

That and, well… Ochako just didn't want Mina seeing how she lived.

"Oh, well I haven't actually cleared it with my folks or anything. Gotta ask them first, but I'm sure it'll be fine." Mina beamed. "I'll let you know for sure after class, 'kay?" Inviting a friend over without even asking if it was okay really summed up the sort of person Mina was, and Ochako couldn't help but laugh a bit. Her parents were pretty easy-going though, so she was right in thinking they wouldn't have any problems.

The rest of the school day continued as normal, although Ochako had a little trouble focusing on class as she thought about all the fun she and Mina would have over the weekend. Last time they had a sleepover they stayed up so late watching movies and just chatting that Ochako wound up spending the night in Mina's bed as opposed to the guest bed she normally used.

The gravity girl felt herself blush a bit as she recalled this. It had been a little embarrassing for both of them when they woke up that morning huddled together. They quickly got over it, of course; they were both quite comfortable being that close with one another at this point. It was just surprising was all.

Point was that the two of them had a lot of fun together, and Ochako was extremely excited for the weekend now that she had that to look forward to. Normally weekends were something she almost dreaded; without school, she had nothing to really do all day other than work out for a bit. All that boredom tempted her to go out and do things, spend money she absolutely could not afford to spend.

When they were finally let loose for the day, the two girls quickly found each other. Ochako noticed that Mina looked slightly disappointed as she approached.

"Hey, uh, about tonight," she started. Her friend frowned as she felt all that anticipation start to drop. "Apparently Makoto already asked if a couple of his friends could spend the night, so uh… Yeah." Mina's parents were very lax, but they still had limits. That many guests sleeping over definitely seemed like it'd be problematic. Besides, Ochako – and Mina, most likely – didn't really want to deal with a band of 12-year-olds all night.

"Ah. I see." It shouldn't have bothered her so much. It wasn't like this was some huge event or anything. Yet knowing she was going to be stuck at home again for the weekend was… Bleh.

Granted, Mina looked pretty let down too. But then again, she was always overly emotional and dramatic.

"Well… We can still hang out today, right?" If nothing else, they could still spend the evening together.

"I mean we could, but Makoto's friends will be there and just… Ugh. I do not feel like dealing with them." The pink girl was clearly annoyed with the situation she'd be in.

Suddenly, she lit up as if she just thought of a genius idea.

"Oh! What about your place?"

"Huh?" Uh oh. Ochako was hoping this wouldn't come up.

"Like, we could just have a sleepover there right?" She was back to her normal cheery self in an instant.

"Well uh, I guess, but…" Ochako looked to the side, scratching the side of her head.

This was bad. Normally she'd try to just change the subject or convince Mina to do something else, but options were limited.

"Uh… We could just hang out downtown for a while too." It would mean having to resist spending anything, but it was all the brunette could think of.

"Well yeah, but… I still haven't even been over to your place! I'm like, super curious!" Oh no. Curious Mina was dangerous. "And like, it'd be just the two of us right? That sounds super cool! Nobody around to tell us what to do…" She gasped. "We could have ice cream for dinner!" She said it as if it were the most risqué thing ever.

For a moment, Ochako considered changing her mind.

"…Yeah, we could couldn't we…?" She rubbed her chin thoughtfully before snapping back to reality. "B-But still, I don't think it's a good idea. My place is really small and there's not a lot to do…"

"I'll bring some movies or games or something!" Mina was quite insistent. "Come on, it'll be fun!"

Ochako opened her mouth to protest more but stopped herself.

It was clear Mina had been looking forward to hanging out with her. It was also clear that she didn't want to be home tonight if she could help it. Was it really fair to turn her down when there was no good reason to do so? Or was it just Ochako being selfish and paranoid?

The latter, obviously. Thinking about it more, she didn't know why this was such a huge deal for her. Mina was a good person; she wasn't the type that would think less of a friend just because they were, well, poor as dirt. While it would be way less fun than spending the night at her place they'd still be hanging out together. And that was what really mattered, right?

"…Alright, let's do that," Ochako finally agreed.

"Woohoo!" Mina cheered, practically jumping for joy. "Ohmygosh, this'll be awesome! We can stay up all night, we don't have to worry about being quite… And seriously: Ice cream dinner!"

"Uh, heh… I, uh, don't have any ice cream actually," Ochako mumbled, looking to the side.

"I'll pick some up then!" Mina sure was fixated on this idea. "What time should I head over? Oh, and I'll need your address obviously."

"Right… Well um, I guess any time." Ochako paused. "Actually, I could just go home with you and we'll both head to my place." Better than just sitting around bored.

"Sounds good!"

The two girls continued on their way.

"Okay, strawberry or chocolate?"

"Oh, I don't know… Both sound good."

"Then we'll get both!" Mina grinned as she threw both bins of ice cream in the basket. "Alright, anything else?" She and Ochako had acquired the makings for full sundaes.

"Uh, I think that should be plenty." The brunette paused. "Er, how much is all of this again?"

"Oh don't sweat it, I got this!" Mina assured her. She knew her friend was in a bit of a rough spot financially and didn't want to put any unneeded strain on her bank account.

"What? Oh, no, you don't need to…"

"Hey, I'm the one who suggested this. Only fair I cover it, right?"

"Still, I don't want you to feel-

"Relax, alright? I wouldn't be offering if I didn't want to." Alright sure, Mina didn't want to cover all of this, but that wasn't the point. Like she said, she was the one who thought of making sundaes. On top of that, Ochako was hosting tonight. It just felt rude to ask her to chip in.

Of course, the brunette was insistent she help pay. Mina knew by now she didn't like people buying things for her. She didn't want to be seen as a charity case. Normally her friend would respect that wish, but tonight she was feeling stubborn.

It wasn't as if Mina pitied Ochako or anything. She was just a generous person, and just liked doing nice things for others. Her parents gave her a decent enough allowance, so why not offer to cover things?

That said, she did recognize her companion didn't have a lot of money to throw around, and she tried to be considerate of that. They were friends, after all. Best friends even. Sure they'd only known each a little over a month now, but Mina honestly felt closer to her than even her middle school friends. Much of that was likely the fact that they shared a similar dream of becoming pro heroes, but also just because they seemed to mesh perfectly. They tended to be on the same wavelength about things, and they were able to talk about almost anything together.

Which is why Mina couldn't help but worry about her. The fact that she had been so reluctant to have the pinkette over to her place was… Odd, to say the least. What was she so worked up about? It couldn't be that bad.

And then there was her behavior at lunch. That wasn't the first time she'd "accidentally" taken too much food. The fact that she always had something to store the leftovers in on hand was a bit telling. Sure it was free, but it wasn't great food. Not bad but not great.

There were plenty of other little things Mina noticed about her best friend, and she had tried to bring them up a few times. As expected, Ochako would insist everything was fine.

"Mina?" The pink girl realized she had spaced out as her friend called out to her.

"Huh? Sorry, zoned out there."

Maybe she was overthinking all this. Maybe she was worrying for nothing. Ochako seemed happy after all, and that was all that mattered in the end.

The two finished their shopping (Ochako reluctantly allowing Mina to pay) and continued toward their destination. Mina had already gotten everything else she needed from her house, such as a sleeping bag, her laptop, movies, and some games.

"So, do we use the ice cream tonight or tomorrow? I'm honestly thinking tomorrow. You know, Sunday sundaes!" Ochako asked as they walked. Mina almost had to stop walking as she said this. Her eyes widened. Holy crap, why didn't she think of that?

"That's genius! Ohmygosh, we could totally make that like a regular thing too!" She had been so enamored with the idea of dessert for dinner that she hadn't considered that possibility. What a fun idea!

"Ooooh, that could be fun!" Ochako seemed very into it. "Like, we could try making different stuff every time!" Mina gasped, her creative center now in full force.

"Yeah! Different flavors, toppings… We could experiment! Try to figure out the ultimate sundae recipe!"

"Oh wow… What if we discovered something nobody's ever had before and it's, like, the greatest thing ever!"

"A secret recipe… We'd be, like, heroes in the ice cream world!"

This was a very typical conversation for the two girls. They could take just about any random topic and turn it into a full discussion. Both of them (though mostly Mina) frequently came up with silly ideas like this that they'd chat excitedly about for a long while. Of course, the bulk of said ideas were forgotten about within hours.

"Yeah, and then we could…" Ochako suddenly trailed off, her smile dropping. "…Er, well, actually… I don't know if I could afford to do this every weeke-

"Oh hush, I'll handle it." Mina could probably cover it. Maybe. Er, well, if they did it every other week at least. Still, she was far too into this idea to think about that right now.

It wasn't long before they arrived at Ochako's apartment. It wasn't the most glamorous complex to be sure, but it wasn't super run down or anything.

"Well… Here we are," She sounded a bit nervous as they got to her door. As she went to unlock it, though, there seemed to be a problem. "Uh… Hang on." Mina simply watched as she started fighting with her door's lock, the key apparently refusing to turn. "Sorry, this can just – ugh, come on – get… Stuck… Some… Times." After a solid 10 seconds of jostling, the key finally turned. Mina noticed Ochako had a slight blush on her face as she hurriedly opened the door.

Deciding not to comment, Mina followed her inside.

"So this is the kitchen," Her friend said as they entered. It was pretty dang small, like she had said earlier. Honestly, Mina found it a little cute. She did notice, however, that the place was quite bare. There wasn't any visible food lying on the counters or anything, and aside from the fridge, sink, and stove/oven combo the only appliance looked to be a microwave. No dishwasher, toasters or anything like that.

She didn't pay it much mind as they started to put away the food they'd brought. Mina was a bit surprised at how empty the fridge and cupboards were as she opened them up; there was practically nothing in them! There was mostly rice, bean sprouts, some instant noodles… And several containers of what were clearly leftover school lunches sitting in the fridge.

…Maybe Ochako just needed to go grocery shopping?

"Hey, uh, Ochako," Mina started as they finished putting things away. "Since we're going to have the ice cream tomorrow, what uh… What was the plan for dinner?"

"Huh? Oh, um…" The brunette went through what she had. "Well uh… I normally just heat up some leftovers. That or have some noodles." She rubbed her arm as she fidgeted awkwardly. "S-Sorry, I know it's not much but…"

Wait, this was normal for her?

"Oh. Well, uh, I'll just have some noodles if that's okay."

"I can add some sprouts or something. You know, make it a bit more of a meal."

"Um, sure!"

Mina was confused. Was this how she ate all the time? How?

Ochako filled a cup of noodles up with water before putting it in the microwave. As it started heating up, she pointed to the door across from the entrance.

"You can put the rest of your stuff in there." She looked a bit reluctant as she said this. Mina went over to the door and went into the next room.

She had to do a double take as she did. Ochako had said she didn't have much, but…

The place was practically empty. A single table with no chairs in sight, a closet with a handful of clothes, and a small cabinet with an old-looking TV resting on it. Oh, and a bedroll. Not an actual bed or even a mattress, just a pad with a pillow and blanket.

And that was it. No posters, no decorations of any kind. And pretty much no entertainment either aside from the television.

This was how she was living? Mina knew she had money problems, but this…

"Mina?"

The pink girl turned to see Ochako standing behind her, two cups of noodles in hand.

"Food's ready." She held one of the cups out.

"Ah, right." Mina took the cup. "Thanks."

The two stared at each other for a moment. Ochako's sighed, shoulders slumping.

"…I know, it's… Not much."

"Hey, hey." Her friend rested a hand on her shoulder. She needed to be positive right now; they were here to have fun. "Alright, so it's not a mansion. So? I'm still hanging out with my best buddy." Flashing a grin, she gestured to the table.

The evening went by quick. The girls found plenty of ways to entertain themselves, from watching things on Mina's computer or the TV to playing cards and the other little games she brought to just talking. It was all in all a good time.

…Well, mostly.

Despite the fun they had and the laughs they shared throughout the night, there was this underlying tension that just wouldn't go away. Mina made a point not to bring up Ochako's living conditions, but she was certainly thinking about it the whole time. Unfortunately, she wasn't the best at hiding her feelings; Ochako could obviously tell she was a bit uncomfortable, but never said anything about it. It was a weird thing where both of them recognized what the other was likely thinking, yet neither of them confronted the other. Instead they simply continued to act like everything was alright.

Though Mina had mentioned the idea of staying up all night, by about midnight neither girl had much energy left. As the two sat against Ochako's wall watching online videos, the pink girl yawned.

"Oh man… Getting sleepy…" She was leaned against Ochako a bit, who also yawned.

"Yeah…" She mumbled drowsily. "I think it's time for bed…" Mina nodded before slowly standing up, wincing a bit as she did. Sitting on the floor and against the wall for this long had made her a bit stiff, and both her back and butt were a little sore. Not having a chair was rough.

How did Ochako deal with all this? More importantly, how did she deal with all of it and still manage to be so cheery all the time? Mina wasn't the sort of person that thought you needed a pampered life to be happy but living like this was something else. Ochako was one tough girl to be able to handle this for so long.

Then again, all those little things Mina always noticed… Perhaps she wasn't quite as okay with it as she let on. And honestly, that was the main reason her friend was so worried about all this.

If Ochako didn't act the way she did about all this it'd be one thing. Mina would still question just how she could be okay living like this, but she wouldn't judge or anything. If Ochako was happy, then what was the problem? If anything, Mina would admire her more for being able to handle this minimalist lifestyle.

But she clearly wasn't happy. Not totally anyway.

The tired girl yawned again. Bleh, too late to think about all this. Maybe tomorrow.

The pair finished getting ready for bed. Mina set up her sleeping bag besides Ochako's "bed", and the two lied down. Before long, they were both sound asleep.

Figure this is a decent cut-off. Not exactly the most eventful chapter, but I mostly wanted to establish what the characters' relationship is currently like before moving forward. Felt like a lot of internal rambling from both Mina and Ochako, hopefully it didn't drag too much. Anyway, see you next time.