All Who Wander [Chapter 13 - COCONUTS]

[Chapter 12]

By the time Izuku made it over from the general store, Samidare was already waiting for him at the clearing. He couldn’t help but grin at the enthusiasm, and the little collection of townsfolk he had with him only made it all the better.

“Hey!” he said brightly, waving with the arm that wasn’t clutching tools. “You’re so early!”

“Everyone wanted to come help.”

“I’m so glad!”

Satsuki he remembered, of course, but the little girl beside her was unfamiliar. She had brown hair, tied up in a little ponytail with a flower, and she grinned at him the moment their eyes met.

“This is Lala,” Satsuki offered. “She’s my best friend!”

“It’s nice to meet you, Lala. I’m Izuku.”

“And this is Roro,” Samidare said, waving toward the boy beside him. Sure enough, he was a little smaller, but there was a determination in his eyes that Izuku saw immediately.

“Nice to meet you, Roro.”

“And I’m Rody.”

The final new person was older, around Izuku’s age, his long hair tied up a lot like his sister’s – sans the flower. His clothes were old, torn and patched in multiple places, despite Roro and Lala having much nicer gear of their own.

“Great to have you, Rody,” Izuku said, smiling warmly at the man. “I’m Izuku, I don’t think we’ve met at the cafe yet.”

“We eat at home,” Lala said. “Rody cooks for us!”

“Oh? That’s awesome, I like to cook too when I can.”

“Samidare came by and said you needed some extra hands for a project up here,” Rody explained. “I figured I should probably meet you before letting the kids just run off alone up here.”

“Absolutely! I totally agree! And you’re welcome to hang out, or join in if you want – the more hands, the better! If you’ve got something else to do, though, I totally understand. I heard you deliver the water barrels around town, right? I was gonna ask around about getting one for my tent.”

“I can arrange that,” Rody said with a nod. “You want it immediately?”

“Oh, no, of course not! Whenever is fine, just when you’ve got some time to spare. And I’ll pay for it, of course – just let me know how much it costs and I’ll sort it!”

“What’s your job, Mister Izuku?” Lala asked. “Do you fish?”

“Well, actually, I’m trying to set up my job here,” he explained, gesturing toward the messy clearing. “I like to grow plants, and Mina and Rikido said I could use this space to grow some stuff, but I need to clear out all this mess so there’s room to plant them. So I thought maybe you guys would like to help me out and earn some money, like these guys do at the restaurant.”

“I can help,” Roro said immediately. “I’m a hard worker!”

“I bet you are!” Izuku grinned. “I’d love that.”

“I’ll help too!” Lala said. “I’m super strong.”

“I can tell! Maybe you and Satsuki could start clearing out all the rocks and sticks and things? I thought maybe we’d load them into these buckets, and I might find a use for them later.”

“Sounds good!” Satsuki agreed, taking the stack of buckets that hung from Izuku’s satchel. “Let’s go!”

“And you boys,” he continued, when the girls ran off to start gathering. “I’m gonna see if my scythe here will go through the vines and roots and things, maybe you guys could have a go pulling them out of the ground, after? I think they might be a little tough for the girls to pull.”

“We can do it,” Samidare agreed. “Do you want me to poop in the ground, too?”

“No!” Izuku laughed. “Rikido told you, not human poop!”

“He likes animal poop,” Samidare explained, looking over at Roro with a smirk. “He said he’d pay me to bring him buckets of poop.”

“That’s not quite how the conversation went.”

“Close enough,” Samidare said with a shrug. “Is that a shovel? We can dig out roots and stuff.”

“Yeah? That’d be awesome.”

Izuku handed it over, and together the boys set off without another word, picking out where to start digging.

“I hope this is okay,” Izuku said after a second, glancing over at Rody. “You don’t mind me hiring your siblings for a bit?”

“Nah, it’s good for them,” Rody said, watching them get to work. “I have an axe at home, you want me to come help chop shit?”

“Really? You’re not too busy?”

“No, I’m good.”

“Then that would be amazing! Eijirou offered to help but he’s always so busy fishing, it would be great if we could do it without him so he doesn’t have to spend his day off up here.”

“I’ll be back in half an hour, then. Take care of the kids.”

“I will! Looking forward to it!”

With Rody heading off, Izuku grabbed his scythe, heading to a patch of long grass and weeds to start hacking it all down. He’d brought a blanket along in his satchel, which he laid out to one side, ready to lay the cut grass on. Maybe it would be useful for the coffee trees, like it had been for the cherries back in Chimura, and he could always use a little more stuffing for his bed. Not to mention the bunnies back in the forest – he could always take a trip to leave them some extra grass to munch on. He wondered if grasses from different areas tasted different, too – if Tsuricho grass to the Chimura bunnies was like a fish to him.

When Rody returned, he held a heavy axe in his hands, ready to get to work. It was an old tool, like the ones Izuku had picked up that morning, but it was almost gleaming with how clean it was, and it looked perfectly sharp when Rody took a swing at an old stump, cleaving through the dead wood easily. If Rody was taking care of that axe himself, Izuku was gonna have another job for him very soon – he was gonna have to start watching his spending, his stash from selling crops in Chimura was gonna run out if he wasn’t more careful.

When the sun got high in the sky, and the heat sent sweat trickling down Izuku’s face, he heard a familiar voice calling out to them from the trees. He turned around just in time to see Mina emerge from the path, carrying a massive bundle in her hand, and he ran over to say hello.

“I brought lunch!” she told him, setting her bundle down in the shade. “I heard everyone was up here working hard, so I figured I’d drop by with some sustenance for you all!”

Her bundle unfurled, and Izuku was left staring, confused by the big, furry rocks she had within.

“Coconuts!” Lala said excitedly, rushing over to see. “They’re ripe now?!”

“Yeah!” Mina grinned. “The last lot took a while, huh?”

“So long!”

The group quickly gathered around her, and Rody picked up one of the weird objects, shaking it beside his ear.

“They sound good. What do you want for them?”

“Nothing,” Mina assured him. “They’re a gift, for all the hard work.”

Rody took the scythe from Izuku’s hand, and he watched blankly as Rody pierced the hairy object, wiggling the scythe a little to make a decent hole. He offered it out to Mina, but she shook her head, grinning as she pointed at the kids. Managing a smile of his own, Rody passed the first one to Satsuki, watching her immediately raise it to her lips to take a swig. He repeated the process with the scythe, handing them each a coconut, and Izuku watched as they each drank from them, looking surprisingly content.

“Here,” Rody said, when he stuck one in Izuku’s hand next. “Drink up, before you pass out.”

Izuku didn’t bother to argue – he had felt a little woozy at one point, standing in the hot sun. He mimicked the kids, tipping his head back, surprised when he got a mouthful of sweet-tasting water.

“It’s so good,” he marvelled, staring at the furry outside and wondering how the insides were so delicious. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“You haven’t had a coconut before?” Rody asked, staring at him. “Ever?”

“No,” Izuku shook his head, smiling sheepishly. “Um, we don’t have them where I grew up, and this is my first time visiting Tsuricho!”

“I didn’t even think about that!” Mina said, eyes wide. “Sorry! I would have brought more fanfare!”

“No, this was perfect,” Izuku laughed, before he took another swig. “Thank you!”

“It’s not over yet,” Rody said, accepting one back from Roro and picking up his axe. “First we hydrate, then we eat.”

He whacked the coconut with the back of his axe, turning it over before he did it again, a crack forming across the middle. He wedged the blade in, twisting it slightly, and the whole thing fell into two pieces. Roro accepted a spoon from Mina’s bundle, and sat down to scoop out the flesh, munching on the innards of the coconut.

As people finishing drinking, Rody repeated the process for each of them, neatly cracking open each one, and Izuku was practically trembling with excitement when his turn came.

“Mm!” he hummed, when he took his first mouthful. “Wow, that’s really tasty.”

“It’s pretty good, right?” Mina grinned. “We use them for everything around here.”

“Really? I didn’t see any in the kitchen!”

“We take them apart, kind of like the fish. We drain the water into jars to drink or use for soups, we scoop out all this meat to make milk for coffee and stews and things like that, or we grate it up to help flavour the fish, and sometimes we even split the milk into cream and make desserts with it!”

“They’re so versatile,” Izuku marvelled.

“And we make stuff from the shells,” Lala added. “Like bowls and dish scrubbers.”

“So this is where all your milk comes from?” Izuku asked, tilting the coconut to examine. “I wondered why I’d never seen any cows around.”

Together they all sat in the shade, laughing and chatting and munching on spoonfuls of coconut, until, with a contented sigh, Roro rose to his feet.

“We should get back to work!” he said, and Izuku couldn’t resist a chuckle. “No use wasting the day away!”

“Very true,” Mina grinned. “I’ve got a few things to do before dinner prep, so I’d better head off as well, but I’m super excited to see how this place looks in the morning!”

She loaded the remnants of their coconuts into her blanket bundle, ready to take back to the cafe and repurpose for whatever else she saw fit, and with a yawn, Izuku stood up, stretching his limbs out lightly.

“You guys might have to show me your lake, after,” he said. “I stink.”

“You haven’t been?” Lala gasped. “I’ll show you the lake!”

“Thanks, Lala. I’m looking forward to it!”



–––



“Hey, Izuku!” Eijirou called, waving enthusiastically. “C’mere!”

Izuku hurried over, wondering what all the fuss could be about so early in the morning, but when he found a tiny little tent pitched right beside the cafe, he quickly understood.

“Hello!” he said, grinning at the man who sat at a cafe table, surrounded by his wares. “The others said it would be ages before another trader came through here!”

“We’re hitting peak season now, we try to get around more while the weather is good. Are you looking for anything in particular?”

“Actually I was wondering which way you’re heading next?”

Eijirou blinked at him, and Izuku could practically hear his thoughts. Everyone else was excited to buy food and materials, but Izuku just wanted to talk to the man.

“Up north next,” the trader said. “I just came from out west.”

“Oh! Did you come through Chimura?”

“I did!”

“Oh man,” Izuku said, smiling wistfully. “I live back that way, I miss them all so much. If you come back through, let me know and I’ll get you to take a message for me if that’s okay. Especially if you’re going as far as Musutafu.”

“Musutafu?”

“Yeah, it’s up the hill south of Chimura, that’s where my mother and my best friend still live.”

“Are you Izuku?”

“I am!”

The trader got up wordlessly, heading for his tent, and Izuku could only stare after him as he rummaged through his belongings, returning with a shiny silver box.

“I was asked to deliver this to you, by Hizashi in Chimura. He says it comes from a woman named Mei, who expected you to be in Chimura still, but Hizashi knew you’d headed out this way already.”

“Oh! Thank you so much!”

“She asked us to tell you ‘thank you for all the gifts’, and to apologise for not giving back your buckets – she used the metal to make this.”

Izuku wasn’t sure exactly what the box was, yet, but he hugged it all the same, eyes getting a little watery as he pictured his best friend enthusing over her new contraption as she handed it over, probably talking a mile a minute as she explained it all to Hizashi, who wouldn’t have kept up with a word of it. The thank you would have come from his mother, in actuality, and the apology about the buckets was probably the only sentence Hizashi could decipher from Mei’s babble. But he didn’t need exact words to know any of that, the third-hand short-form was more than enough to build the perfect picture in his head.

“Thank you,” he said again, softer this time. “I appreciate it.”

“I’ll be heading off again early tomorrow, so if you want me to pass a message on, I’m happy to drop by and do so. Just let me know by tonight.”

“I will, thank you. I’ll just need to think about what to say.”

“Of course.”

He stepped away, letting the trader do his business with the townsfolk who were patiently waiting their turn, but Eijirou followed after him, taking a seat and gesturing for Izuku to join him.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I’m not sure exactly,” Izuku laughed. “I’m sure Mei thought she’d passed on perfect instructions, but I’m the only one who would have made any sense of them.”

“Can I help you figure it out?”

“Sure!”

He set the box on the table between them, pausing a moment just to eye it over. It was the same metal as his stack of buckets he’d collected in Chimura, understandable now that he knew she’d used them for parts, but it had a long, thick strap on it too, much like the old satchel he wore at that exact moment.

“I sent her and my mother some buckets of food,” Izuku explained. “I wrapped everything up and stuck it in a bucket of water, because Hizashi – one of the traders – said it helps keep some foods fresher for longer.”

“Mei is the inventor, right? The one who made your tent?”

Izuku had talked about that a little on the boat, but he was surprised Eijirou remembered it.

“That’s the one,” he agreed. “This looks like a latch, right?”

He pulled at a piece of curved metal, pleased when it slid easily, letting him lift the top off the box. Inside, he found a cloth lining, slightly damp; a collection of small glass jars; and a neat stack of cloth scraps and string offcuts, all the bits and pieces he’d used to send them food. Right in the middle of the box, nestled between the odds and ends they’d returned to him, was a bundle of small potatoes and mushrooms.

“What are those?” Eijirou asked.

“Potatoes! And mushrooms!” he beamed, picking them up like they were made of gold, where only a few months ago he’d wished to never see them again. “I have to show Rikido!”

His spoils clutched in his arms, he ran to the kitchen, grinning from ear to ear as he spilled them onto a clean counter.

“Rikido!” he said excitedly. “My family sent these!”

Rikido dropped everything he was doing without a moment of hesitation, joining him to take a look, and as he picked up a potato with the most delicate touch in the world, Izuku couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s almost mushroom season back home, so they must have decided to send me the first crop, so I could share in it,” he said fondly. “And we use potatoes for everything.”

“Izuku?” Eijirou called, pushing open the kitchen door. “Hey, I hope you don’t mind, but you missed one.”

Izuku turned around, expecting to find a missed potato in Eijirou’s hand, but instead he found a little cloth bag, stained a familiar shade of red on one edge, where a grubby hand must have slipped.

“Eri,” he said softly, accepting the bag from Eijirou with tears in his eyes. “She must have added them in, aww, I miss her so much already!”

He untied the bag, plucking out three perfect cherries, dropping one in Rikido’s hand and one in Eijirou’s, before he ran off to find Mina.

“They look like our coffee cherries,” she said, when she followed him back to the kitchen.

“That’s because they’re normal cherries! They were probably named for the same reasons, or maybe one was named after the other or something. Eat it!”

All three of them bit down on their respective cherries, and Izuku giggled when all three faces changed simultaneously.

“Right?” he gushed. “They’re Eri’s favourite, and the crops were starting to wind down for the season when I left, but she must have saved a few for me, she’s such a sweetie.”

“They’re so good,” Mina exclaimed. “They’re so sweet!”

“Yeah!” Izuku agreed. “We make a lot of desserts with them, or just eat them as-is. But they go so quickly when you eat them on their own, we should figure out a way to share them with everybody.”

“What about as a drink?” Rikido suggested. “We could mix them with some coconut milk and cream, whisk it all up, and make a cherry milk drink for everyone to try.”

“That sounds amazing! Let’s do it!”

Rikido laughed, but Izuku was already grabbing a smooth wooden cutting board from Rikido’s cupboard, helping himself to a knife to start expertly cutting and pitting the cherries. He made a little pile of the pits for later, to figure out a use for them, and the others just exchanged fond smiles behind his back.

“I’m gonna go harvest the coconuts before I fish,” Eijirou said. “Mina, want to come give me a hand? I want to grab some extras, today. Especially if we’re gonna have cherry milk.”

“I’m right behind you!”

The pair disappeared, and Izuku called a quick goodbye after them, but he was too busy working to think much of it. Rikido got to work silently beside him, cracking open coconuts and starting to scoop the flesh out of them to make the milk.

By the time Mina and Eijirou returned, dying under the weight of coconut bundles, Rikido was whisking away at a big bowl, Izuku watching eagerly as the whole thing turned thick and pink. He’d retrieved what looked like every cup in the building and laid them out carefully on a counter, and he stood with a ladle in hand, ready to serve it up.

“Hanta, Shouji, Tetsutetsu,” he whispered, counting off cups for the third time. “Mina, Eijirou, Rikido, me.”

Eijirou and Mina exchanged silent smiles, waiting patiently for him to finish.

“Samidare and Satsuki, and their older sister. Roro, Lala, and Rody. Itsuka from the general store. The trader.”

“You’ve got two spares,” Mina teased, when he nudged the last two cups.

“I swear I’ve forgotten someone.”

“I don’t think so,” Eijirou said, humming thoughtfully. “No one you’ve met, anyway. But if you start trying to get all the people you’ve never met, you won’t have nearly enough!”

“Next time,” Izuku promised. “I’ll get more next time.”

“They already tried your vinegar and tomatoes,” Mina reminded him. “You don’t always have to share every little thing!”

“Yeah,” Izuku said, a little sad all the same. “Maybe we could put a little bit in a jar, just in case I’ve forgotten anyone.”

“Maybe you should jar a few of them,” Mina suggested. “That way they won’t spill if you trip in the sand.”

“Oh! That’s true!”

“I’ll grab them,” Eijirou offered, when Izuku whirled around to face the door. “One second.”

He brought back the metal box just in time for Izuku to ladle out his first serving, breathing in the sweet scent as he began splitting it between cups and jars. Everyone got a ladle full, along with an extra just-in-case jar, and what was left, he divvied up in tiny increments at a time, trying to make everyone’s cup perfectly equal.

“Shall we?” Rikido said, when he’d scraped out every last drop from the bowl. “Cheers!”

“Cheers!” Izuku echoed.

They all lifted their cups, taking their first sips, and it took everything in Izuku’s power to not moan – he seemed to have that reaction a lot, when it came to food, but he was too delighted to even be embarrassed by it.

“Oh my god,” Mina said, licking a bit of milk from her lips. “I could drink these every day and never get bored of it.”

“You say that now,” Izuku laughed. “But remember, other people say that about fish!”

“That’s true,” Mina laughed. “I guess we all want what we don’t have!”

“I’d better start doing my rounds,” Izuku said, putting the lids on his jars and sliding the first batch into Mei’s contraption – presumably it was something made to carry food, even if he didn’t fully understand it yet. “Samidare and Satsuki are right at the end of the row, right? By the lake? Where does Rody live?”

“I think they’re all together today,” Eijirou said, smiling fondly. “Up by the coffee trees.”

“Oh! Oh no! Are they waiting for me?! I got so distracted!”

“Relax,” Eijirou said, chuckling. “They’ll have it under control.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah,” Eijirou assured him. “I’d say go see the trader and Itsuka first, you can come back and see the guys before we launch – I won’t let them leave without seeing you first. Then you can go for a walk and take the others their cherry milk for lunch.”

“Oh, that’s so smart! Okay, I’ll do that. And Rikido, I want to talk to you about the potatoes, too! And these pits here, maybe we can come up with something – in Chimura they use them to help make oil and vinegar but I have no clue how. Aizawa uses them to flavour milk or something too? I’m not sure how but maybe we can work it out!”

“No rush,” Rikido assured him. “I’m looking forward to it.”

He made sure his box was sealed, the metal clamp slid into place, and hooked it over his shoulders with his satchel. Despite being pretty hefty, it sat comfortably on him, and he smiled to himself thinking about Mei walking through the forest with it on, to test out the practicality.

“Here,” Izuku said, when he stopped in front of the trader again. “My friend in Chimura sent some cherries in that parcel, so we made this. Please have some!”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Yeah! You did the hard work getting it here, the least I can do is share!”

He accepted the cup gratefully, taking a little sniff, then a tentative sip. He paused for a second, then took another sip, much longer this time, and Izuku smiled knowingly.

“It’s delicious,” the man said. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad! I’m gonna go deliver some to my friends, then I’ll be back to do some shopping!”

He hurried off down the sand, as best as he could without shaking his box around too much. Even with the lids on the jars, he wasn’t entirely sure he trusted them to be watertight. Itsuka was just opening up for the day when he arrived, and he gave her a big grin and a wave as he approached, following her in the front door excitedly.

“I brought you something,” he explained. “Me and Rikido just made it, from a gift from a friend.”

He opened up his box, handing her a jar, and she stared at the pink fluid for a second, turning the jar back and forth to inspect it.

“It’s cherry milk,” he continued. “Well, it’s cherries mixed with milk, not milk made from cherries. But it’s really good! I hope you like it!”

“Thank you,” she said warmly. “I wish I had something to give you in return!”

“Oh no, don’t be silly!” he insisted. “You found those tools for me so quickly, and Mina said you fixed them up too, so I really appreciate the effort. This is my thanks for that!”

She opened up the jar, taking a sip, and just like all the others, her eyes widened.

“I know,” he laughed. “It’s so sweet, right?”

“It’s delicious!”

“I’m glad you like it! I’m gonna go deliver some to the fishing crew before they leave, but thanks again for your help the other day!”

“I’m always happy to help. Have a great day, let me know if there’s anything else I can find for you.”

“I will!”

With the first two delivered, and the sun starting to beat down on the town, Izuku continued down to the dock. The little fishing boat was there already, waiting to head out, but sure enough the fishermen were still waiting, not yet disappearing out into the open blue ocean.

“Heyyy!” he called, hurrying over to join them. “I brought you guys something!”

“For us?” Hanta asked. “You don’t have to bring us stuff!”

“I wanted to!”

Once more, he gave them his brief explanation, handing out the jars and grinning as they drank.

“Are you coming out fishing again?” Shouji asked, when they’d all finished up and handed back their jars for washing and reusing.

“Oh, umm, not today I don’t think,” he said apologetically. “I’ve got a million things to do, but maybe tomorrow? I need to get better at it!”

“Any time you want,” Tetsutetsu assured him, clapping him on the back. “We’ll make a fisherman out of you yet!”

“Thank you,” Izuku said, laughing. “I’d better get going, I think the others are working away without me! I’ll see you tonight, right? Bring a good appetite, we’ve got a surprise for you for dinner!”

“I can’t wait!”

He waved goodbye and ran back up the sand toward the cafe, becoming more and more sure-footed in the sand as the days went on. He was no longer terrified of rolling an ankle on every step, and while it still made him feel slow, he no longer felt unsafe.

“First delivery done!” Izuku grinned, picking up the second batch of jars to put away in his box. “It’ll be a bit of an early lunch, but I’ll go take the next load now!”

“Hold on a second,” Rikido requested. “I’ve got some leftovers from last night, take them with you. They’re working hard up there, they deserve a good meal.”

He stirred the pot on his stove, heating up the leftover stew, and Izuku dithered a little, hesitating over his words.

“Are their families doing okay?” he asked finally. “I mean like... you know.”

“The Asuis are doing fine,” Rikido assured him. “Their parents work, and Tsuyu teaches the kids to swim and keeps them safe in the water, so she doesn’t earn a ton of money, but it’s enough to get by. The kids like earning some extra money to help out, but they’re not relying on the kids to feed themselves or anything, it just makes it a little easier to keep afloat. Not that we’d let them starve regardless, but people hate accepting charity.”

“And Rody’s family?”

Rikido hesitated this time, and Izuku nodded slowly.

“I thought so,” he said. “Is it just the three of them?”

“Yeah. Rody does everything he can for them, to give them a fairly normal life, but it’s hard when it’s just him. He got in trouble a few times when we were younger, for jobs that were... not the most honest in the world. But he’s come a long way, and he’s a huge asset in our community, he just won’t let anyone help him when they need it.”

“Was he the person you were thinking of, when you said you could find someone to do a job for me?”

“It depends on the job,” Rikido said. “Like if you wanted to learn to swim, I’d send you to Tsuyu. But for general odd jobs? Yeah, Rody is amazing.”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Izuku said softly.

With the stew re-heated, Rikido put a tight-fitting lid on it and wrapped it in layers of cloth, bundling it up carefully for Izuku to carry. With that under his arm, and the cherry drinks in his box, he bid Rikido another goodbye and headed up to the coffee area to feed his friends.

[Chapter 14]