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

RUN.

The next two days at the diner, Izuku kept
waiting for the guys to come in. Every time the
door opens, he looked up, hoping to see them
elbowing each other to be first to the counter.

    They never even walked by.

     Izuku kept trying to work up the nerve to go
and find them, and finally on Wednesday he
was ready. It was another scorching day, the
hottest yet. After the lunch rush was over, Uncle
Yagi decided to close the diner early. All the
ice in the restaurant had melted. The milk had
curdled. You could just about cook a flapjack
on the kitchen floor.

   "I'm going home to stick my head under
the water pump ," Uncle Yagi said. "Then I'm
going to swing in our hammock until the sun
sets."
   Izuku said good-bye to Uncle Yagi and headed
for the creek, sure he'd find the guys playing
ball in the water.

*—*

   But the swimming hole was quiet.

   Izuku realized they were still at the factory.
their shift wouldn't be over for an hour.
  While he was waiting, noticed that there
were still splotches of ketchup on the dock.
They looked never more like blood now, like
evidence of a gruesome crime. He decided to try
to clean them before the guys got here, to erase
all reminders of his prank. He undressed and
jumped into the creek. Then he splashed water
up onto the dock, hopped out of the water, and
scrubbed the stains with a handful of leaves.
    It took three rounds of splashing and scrubbing
to clean it up.

    By then Izuku was so hot that he decided to
take a longer swim.
   It was peaceful here without everyone
splashing and shouting. He floated on his back
under the trees, remembering how Papa had
taught him to swim in the Mississippi, how
Mama sat on the banks wavering and clapping.
   He had turned to swim back to the dock
when — 𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘩, he hit something under the
water.

   Or something hit him.
   Hit him so hard in the chest he couldn't
breathe.

    What was that? An old dock plank? A
japonica turtle? Had Katsuki sneaked up on him
and smacked him?

The water around him looked funny, like it
was filled with red smoke.

   Izuku looked down in shock. His entire chest
was scraped and oozing blood. What could
have done that to him?

    A cold terror rose up inside him. He
suddenly had the feeling that someone — or
something — was nearby, watching him.
   And then he saw it.

   A gray fin.
   It glistened in the bright sun as it glided
slowly toward him.
    He had to be seeing things. Or could this
be another prank? Everything is going so fast.
    Were the guys getting him back?
   But no, this was no tile.

   As it got closer, Izuku could see the dark shape
of an enormous fish, bigger than him. Even
bigger than Uncle Yagi. Two black eyes peered
up through the water.

   Izuku's heart stopped.

   Killer eyes.
   Izuku took off toward the shore, pounding
through the water, kicking with all his might.
Finally his feet touched the bottom. He was
running now, his heart hammering, a voice
booming through his mind. 𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦
𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳! 𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳! 𝘎𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦
𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳!

    Almost there — just a few more steps!
    He dove forward, landing hard in the dirt.
He rolled onto his side and stared in disbelief:
It was a shark, a massive shark — dirty gray
on top and pure white underneath. It's jaws
snapped open and closed. The teeth, jagged
and needle sharp, were bigger than Izuku's
fingers, lined up in rows and curving inward.

The shark thrashed, as if it was trying to push
itself up onto the bank. Izuku wanted to get up
and run. But he was frozen to the ground.

  Those killer eyes stared unblinkingly at Izuku.

And then, with a flick of its tail, the shark thrust
itself backward into the water.

   It hovers for a second on the surface.
    Then, with a 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘩 of its tail, it disappeared
back down the creek