Held |There's something in the water. . . .|

NINE DAYS EARLIER. . . .

                                                                 JULY 3, XXXX
9:00 A.M.
THE ERI HILLS DINER

The Monday morning breakfast rush at the Eri
Hills Diner was finally over.

Izuku's feet ached. He was covered in syrup,
doughnut crumbs and bacon grease. His curly
green hair was damp with sweat. But he was surprisingly happy.

Uncle Yagi was paying him a fortune to help out at his diner
this summer — fifteen cents a day! Izuku likes being
surrounded by familiar faces and hearing folks
calling out his name while he worked. Best of all,
he was finally making some friends, his first since
he came to live with Uncle Yagi last January. He
was staying here for the year, while Mama and
Papa was in America on business.
Izuku was wiping down the counter when
the front door banged open.

He smiled when he saw Eijiro, Katsuki, and
Tenya rushed toward him. They came in every
morning on their way to work at the tile factory.
Izuku had seen them at school — the loud boys
who were always talking about baseball. But he
hadn't gotten to know them until this summer
"Did you hear?" Eijiro said, his cheeks red
with excitement.

"You won't believe it!" Said Tenya, whose
Spectacles were fogged up from the humidity.
"Just let me tell him!" Said Katsuki, pushing his friends
aside. He was the shortest of the three, and always
in charge. "It was a shark"
And then they all started talking at once
"A shark attack!"
"It was huge!"
"Bit off a man's leg!"
"There was blood everywhere!"
"The man is dead!"
"It happened right in Beach Takoba!" said
Tenya.

Beach Takoba was about seventy miles south
of Eri Hills, right on the Pacific Ocean. Izuku
had heard about the fine hotels there, and the
people who swam in the ocean in their fancy
bathing costumes. But he'd never heard of any
shark attacks!

Uncle Yagi appeared from the kitchen, his
bright blue eyes shining and his thick bold hair
Neatly combed back.

The guys always stood a little straighter when
They saw Izuku's uncle. He'd been a baseball
Legend growing up here in Eri Hills. He could
have gone pro, but he'd hurt his knee sliding
home in a championship game. The team won,
and Uncle Yagi could never play again. He still
Limped a little after a long day of work.

"What's this about a shark?" he said as he
passed out cinnamon doughnuts to each of the
boys. "You youngsters aren't trying to fool us, are
you?"

Izuku knew the guys loved to pull pranks.
On the last day of school, they'd put a frog
in Ochaco Uraraka's lunch pail. She was the
prettiest girl in school, but she'd been so mad
her face turned an ugly shade of purple.

"We're not foolin'!" Tenya said, pulling a
rumpled piece of newsprint from his trouser
pocket. "Look at this!" he said.
   He handed it to Izuku. It was from the 𝘕𝘦𝘸
𝘑𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪 𝐻𝘢𝘫𝘪𝘮𝘦. The hair on the back of Izuku's
neck stood up as he read the story.
Uncle Yagi read it over his shoulder.

KILLER SHARK
ATTACKS SWIMMER!
July 2,
Beach Takoba, Masutafu
Koji Koda, 25, was attacked by a large
shark Saturday, July 1, while swimming in
chest-deep water. He and his family were
vacationing at the Luxurious Yaoyorozu Hotel.
Mr. Koda, known by all as a man of
exceptional love, and great promise, was
swimming with a dog when the attack occurred.
The beach was filled with fashionable ladies
and gentlemen enjoying the early evening
breezes, when panicked shouts suddenly echoed
through the air. A large black fin could be seen
swimming toward Mr. Koda. Onlookers
screamed warnings. But it was too late. The
shark brutally attacked the young man, who
struggled to swim to shore. A lifeguard and
two men rushed to his aid and finally managed
to free him from the water.
But he died a short time later of his injuries.
   This is the first fatal shark attack on a human
   ever recorded on the shore of Masutatsu county.

Uncle Yagi laughed.
  Izuku stared at him. His uncle was tough. But
did he really think a man getting ripped apart by
a shark was funny?
"Boys, that article is a hoax," Uncle Yagi said.
"A shark will not attack a human. It's a proven
fact. Haven't you ever heard of Mr. Herman
Oelrichs?"

None of them had.
"The guy was a millionaire," Uncle Yagi said.
"Owned a big shipping company. One day — let's
see,I think it was about twenty-five years ago — this
gent was out on his yacht with his rich friends,
  not far from New York City. They were out in
the ocean, and they sailed right into a big school
of sharks. The ladies screamed. But Oelrichs put
on his bathing costume and dove into the water,
practically right on top of the sharks."
"Why would he do that?" Katsuki scoffed.
"To prove that the sharks wouldn't attack."
Uncle Yagi said. "He made a real commotion,
splashing and kicking, even shouting at the
sharks. And wouldn't you know the sharks
swam away. They were scared as rabbits."

Izuku glanced at Katsuki and smiled.

"And that's not all!" Said Uncle Yagi. "Mr.
Oelrichs offered a five-hundred-dollar reward
to anyone who could come up with one case of
a shark attacking a human on the coast!"
"Five hundred bucks!" Said Eijiro. "That's
crazy!"
"Maybe," Uncle Yagi said "But nobody ever
collected. Because a shark simply will not attack
a human. That cherry pie over there is
more likely to attack you than a shark is."
They all laughed.

But then a gravelly voice Spoke up from the
end of the counter.
"You got it wrong. Some sharks are killers."
It was Captain Sorahiko, who came into the
diner every day for breakfast. A long time ago
He had been a whaling ship captain. But now he
puttered around the creek in his broken-down
Motorboat. Usually he has a dazed look in his
eyes, like he wasn't sure where he was.
But now the Captain's eyes were sharp.

"You've seen some sharks, Cap?" Uncle Yagi
said, refilling the Captain's coffee cup.
"Seen one?" The Captain said. "A white shark
almost bit me right in two."
"That so?" Uncle Yagi said, winking at
Izuku.
   I don't want to scare you lads," the Captain
said.

"Please, sir!" Tenya said. "Nothing scares me." Katsuki insisted
"We can take it!" Eijiro said.
Izuku realized with a happy jolt that the "we"
included him.
    Uncle Yagi went back into the kitchen, shaking
his head.

"All right then," the Captain said, looking
around the empty diner. "But gather close. And
don't scream too loud. I don't want to upset the
other customers ."