Rise Above - [BNHA x Reader]

- 3 -

"What a shame, you held so much promise...now look at you."

"Thank you, please come again," you muttered as you handed the bag over to the customer along with a receipt. She nodded in thanks and soon left the store. You really did not want to have to associate to anyone else especially after the events earlier that afternoon but duty called.

And your coworker just so happened to bail on you despite it being his shift today.

You let out a tired sigh and stretched your arms again. You were beat.

You walked towards the door and flipped the door sign to 'closed', it was something you have been itching to do ever since you had changed out of your school uniform into something more casual then placed on your name tag. You fished for the keys in your pocket and locked door. Now all you had to focus on was cleaning up the place and you're good to go.

Now that you were alone, you could breathe a whole lot easier. You untied the bandages that were wrapped around your head and you blinked, still trying to adjust your vision to the light of the room. It felt good to be able to see things again, the bandages were beginning to itch something terrible.

Taking one good look at the place, you rolled up your sleeves and went straight to work. Grabbing a mop and bucket from the back room, you began to clean.

With the back and forth motion you made with the mop, your thoughts drifted elsewhere. It was a common occurrence, for you to be so absorbed in your task that your mind begins to wander.

The general store that you were working in was actually quite small. It is a quaint little shop located in a rather secluded area in the Shopping District. Stacked on top of its shelves were a whole bunch of stuff ranging from snacks to canned goods and preserves. There were a few toys for display as well. It was quite cozy if you do say so yourself however, it sure has seen better years. There was this troublesome leak you have yet to come up with a way to fix, not to mention the tile nearest to the entrance has been chipped. To be completely honest, this place was sort of getting behind the times. To think that the owner only recently decided to sell ice cream to lure in more kids into the store.

You grumbled. You might as well just take care of it now otherwise your 'boss' might just hound you for it later.

"Daydreaming again, (Y/N)?"

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

You gasped in surprise as you placed a hand over your chest, "Damn it, old man. Don't sneak up to me like that."

Ticked off by your response, he promptly bonked you in the head with his cane, "That isn't the way you ought to talk to your elders, let alone your boss."

"Ouch!" You yelped, mentally scolding yourself for almost looking his way. You had dropped the mop in the process resulting in toppling over the contents of the bucket nearby. The water soaked your shoes as well as the hem of your jeans, "What the hell?! Is this the way you treat all your employees or am I just that special?"

"Don't flatter yourself," he started, "You youngun's these days don't know the meaning of respect anymore."

You refused to look at the dinosaur in the eyes. He was a rather spry old codger considering his age. Grandpa Toshio, he is known to his friends but to you, he was simply 'gramps' or 'old man', the owner of the store. He was a bit greedy and rather stingy but you knew he means well. He has helped you get back on your feet after being in a tough spot...so you deemed him to be not all bad. You had been working for him for almost a year now as a storekeeper however, you would never give him the satisfaction of calling him 'boss'.