Izuocha's Love Stories

PARADISE (CHAPTERS 3-4)

CHAPTER THREE

Izuku is a fast learner; it doesn't take long for him to become skilled at foraging on the reef, recognizing food and foe underwater, and reading the moon cycles and their tides. He's even become acquainted with the unicornfish, the cone snail, and other denizens of the reef, and he's promptly drawn them in his notebook upon reaching shore. Just three moon cycles since his stranding, and Ochako feels as though she's made an ally on this unforgiving island, rather than a liability as she first thought. He's even begun to swim better (although, without fins, she's aware his skill comes with an upper limit). Nevertheless, her days feel fuller than they ever had before...

more enjoyable...

more adventurous, even...

She's happy to wake up in the morning if it means spending most of the day with Izuku and seeing his smile upon catching more clams than yesterday. His curiosity is infectious, and now that they both watch over each other, Ochako feels safe to venture out into the deeper reef in search of food and wonder.

And it's his wonder that never wavers; he's still asking her questions about merfolk culture. Early evenings and late mornings are spent huddled on the sand in his hut, talking and laughing the sun away. Stories of their past lives, information about the sea and its inhabitants, and even bouts of comfortable silence are shared during these times Ochako quietly admits are her favorite. Whatever reservations she had harbored before have now gone out to sea, never to return. She gladly explains her pod's migration cycle; the kinds of fish she'd normally eat if the whole pod were still with her; and their culture, dictated by the stars' positions. Izuku listens intently, scribbling happily in his notebook as if she were in an interview. Likewise, Ochako can't help but stare in wonder as Izuku tells of large cities made of stone and bustling wharfs filled with the ocean's treasures, from pearls to fish as big as a man.

It's after one such conversation about the ocean's bounty that Izuku gets to work on something. He's happy to still converse with Ochako, but he steals time away from foraging many days in a row in order to create a flimsy contraption he explains to be a fish net. Ochako has to admit it looks sort of like the fish-catchers her pod used to make for hunting, and Izuku says that's exactly what it will do.

"There's only two of us, and I'll be no good at catching fish," he says, continuing to weave strips of palm tree bark he'd stripped with a sharpened rock. "But, with this, you and I can catch a lot of fish very quickly."

Ochako isn't sure how and voices this concern, but Izuku promises to explain in more detail once he's happy with its length. After a few days, the invention is complete – a long net with a long rope on one side. It's early in the morning that Izuku presents it, after finishing it off overnight as Ochako slept. He looks so proud of himself, those green eyes appearing to sparkle even under the gray, overcast sky as he reviews his handy work.

Izuku drags the net into the water, moving it about to test the durability. Once happy, he hands one end to Ochako. She takes it tentatively, unsure of what to do and wanting nothing less than to mess this up for him after he'd spent so much time on it. Her expression says it all – knitted brows and confused eyes darting from one end of the apparatus to the other -- she's confused and nervous.

Seeing this, he smiles and speaks softly. "We're going to do this together. If it doesn't work, it definitely won't be your fault."

Still nervous, Ochako nods.

Izuku continues to explain. "The trick is to get this thing to spread as wide as it can and sweep over the reef really fast. I want you to swim out until you feel me pull on the other end, then swoop around back to shore as quickly as you can. I'll be pulling my end from the shore, too."