penalizing | ★ ic contact.

[ Kotone's running a little late for the meeting, but she's not too worried about it. Nobody's ever on time to these sorts of things, right? So it's perfectly okay to be a little late.

Thankfully for everyone else involved, her lateness is more on the order of minutes rather than hours, and once she sees Izuku standing next to the tree with phone in hand, she'll make a bee-line over to him. They said to meet by the tree, so it's probably the right person... ]

Hey! Are you here for the charity thing, too?

[Izuku glances over when he hears a voice nearby, and offers her a relieved smile. If she's here for the charity event then she has to be his partner. Now he just hopes they can make it over to the toy store a few shops down before all the good toys are taken.]

Yeah. I'm Izuku. [He offers his hand.]

I guess it's good we decided to start early. Judging by this crowd nothing good will be left by Christmas.

I'm Kotone!

[ She'll shake his hand, before letting go and looking around. Who knew the mall would be so packed in early December? ]

You're not kidding! I didn't even know people started shopping this early, but the whole town's here...

I think a lot of people get started right after Thanksgiving. That's when all the big sales start.

[He glances nervously at the hoard of people moving by them and gulps. He's seen how competitive people can be when trying to get the perfect gift, and he's really hoping they'll be able to get inside the store, grab a good toy and two, and leave.]

Shall we? There's a good toy store a little ways down on the left side of the hall.

But in person? All the good sales are online now, and you don't even have to leave your house!

[ Because even for someone as social as she is, there's too many people in this mall for her tastes. But she'll nod in response to his question, starting to walk in the direction indicated. ]

At least we're just looking for any sort of toy... that should be easy enough to find. A toy store's gotta have at least one toy left, after all!

I think some people still like the physical act of seeing things in person before they buy.

[At least that's one part of why he still likes going into stores and looking around. But not usually when it's this busy.

It's a short walk to the toy store, and as soon as they step in they'll find it to be just as crowed as the rest of the mall. Edging by people, Izuku makes his way to the nearest shelf of toys which happen to be full of stuffed animals.]

There's definitely more then one toy left. The hard part is choosing the right one. A stuffed animal might be nice for a younger child.

Do we know how old the kid we're donating to is? Though I guess a stuffed animal could work for any age...

[ Granted, younger child is probably a safe assumption when they asked for toys in the first place, but it does make her wonder what age groups they should be targeting. But even a teenager should be able to enjoy a cute plush, she guesses... ]

If we find a cute and affordable one, that'd be all we need!

No, they didn't say anything about age, or gender for that matter. I guess we can choose anything and they'll match the child to whatever toys they have. Or something like that.

[He's not really sure how it works exactly.]

There's certainly a lot to choose from. But I think they get more expensive based on size.

[He picks up a medium sized horse plush off the shelf and checks the tag. Kids like horses, right?]

This one is $14.99. What do you think?

$15? That's so expensive!

[ She's not opposed to getting something nice for charity, but this is coming out of her own part-time earnings, so that feels a little steep for a stuffed animal of all things. ]

Are there any that are like $10? That sounds more reasonable...

Maybe the smaller ones...

[He places the horse back on the shelf and picks up a turtle plush that fits in his hand.]

This one is $7.99.

That's better! But I wonder if they have any cuter animals, since a turtle's kinda boring...

[ Time to root through these plushes to look for a dog, cat, penguin, or something else suitably adorable... while also finding a reasonable size so that it won't be too pricey again. ]

Hmm...what about this one?

[He holds up a small sized elephant. Maybe...Kotone should take the lead on this one.]

[ Making a face and shaking her head again, before turning to focus on sorting through the pile herself. After a few moments, she emerges victorious, holding up a small dog plush in her hand. ]

Now this is what I'm talking about! This is the kind of cute toy a kid would want.

[Izuku silently pushes the stuffed tiger plush he'd just picked up back on the shelf. Kotone is right, the dog plush is pretty cute. And less likely to scare whichever child it goes to.]

Alright! We should get that one then. How much is it?

[ She'll flip it over to look at the tag. ]

$9.99... I think that's still reasonable, though.

[ It's under her arbitrary cap of $10 pre-tax, anyway, so she's happy with it. Assuming Izuku also has no complaints. ]

[He nods.]

Yeah. That's perfect.

[He looks over at the cashier area which is, thankfully, not super busy at that moment.]

We should probably check out now before the crowds beat us to it.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

[ And, since it occurs to her that she can spice things up a bit, in addition to encouraging them to get there quickly to avoid any other eager shoppers... ]

Let's race for it! First person to get in the line wins!

[ Wins what, exactly? Probably just bragging rights. But at least that's more fun than just walking over to stand in line, she figures. ]

[Well their path to the registers is mostly clear, so having a little race shouldn't cause too much commotion.]

Right! Let's do it.

[Of course, as Kotone is holding the item they're looking to buy, it's probably best if she gets in line first. But now she's made it a competition that Izuku is determined to try to win.]

Ready...set...go!

[And he's off.]

Hey, wait, that's not fair—

[ He gets a bit of a head start, as it takes her a moment longer to process his shout of go than it does for him. But once it hits, she's running for it, giving it all she's got. She's not the most athletic teen (though not out of shape, either), so she might lose this one, but damned if she won't give it her best try. Her pride's on the line, after all. ]

[Izuku, while prone to random bouts of clumsiness, has honed his athleticism during months of training his body, making him perfectly fit and quite quick on his feet. The slight head start is plenty for him to keep the lead...or it would have been if another shopper hadn't then chosen to push their cart into his path, causing him to skid to a stop to avoid running into it.]

[ Per her memories, Kotone isn't the sort of competitor who'd shy away from cheating to gain a competitive advantage... but this time around, the cart in his way isn't her doing. She's just taking full advantage of the opportunity.

She'll run past him while he's stuck, cheering happily as she does. Hopefully, that's enough to give her the edge in this mini-race. ]

[It does as the cart blocking Izuku's path doesn't seem to be moving any time soon. Add to the fact that a cluster of shoppers now seem to be descending on the check out aisles...he doesn't have a chance at keeping up. At least Kotone has the plush and can work out the payment.

He'll just be trying to very carefully maneuver around a bunch of clashing carts to get to the line where she's holding their spot.]

[ The line's likely long enough that they'll be next in line by the time he manages to make his way through the maze of carts. When he finally gets there, Kotone greets him with a grin. ]

Took you long enough! Good thing I managed to get us a spot in line first...

Y-yeah. Good job.

[He grimaces, silently cursing his bad luck. But he's not a sore loser at all. Finally they reach the register, and the woman behind it asking if they've found everything okay.]

How do you want to split the cost?

Should we just go halfsies? That seems like an easy way to keep things fair.

[ Since she's assuming neither one of them has money to burn at this point in their lives... ]

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