The hunt was on.
Izuku scoured every resource at his disposal, mostly social media, searching for a hint on Godzilla's location.
He searched for bizarre occurrences, vanished ships, weird behavior from marine life. Any and everything that could lead him to the missing King of the Monsters. He briefly thought he found a lead near the Safe Zone border, but it just turned out to just be Ebirah being chased out by the Americans.
Occasionally Kenji sent Izuku data from the analysts, but while Izuku tried his best to use it, his ability to do so was limited. Izuku may be smart, but his experience was with social media and historical records (a skill born in his days chasing Heroes, and the subsequent days researching the monsters). What Kenji sent was mostly beyond him.
After many hours of digging, Izuku had nothing.
Even with everything Izuku knew of Godzilla's habits and calling cards, finding the monster in the ocean was turning out to be like looking for a needle in a thousand-kilometer haystack.
Izuku shut his laptap.
He was drained.
Since embarking, Izuku and his team had been constantly drilled, inspected, and trained in case a battle came. The constant preparation combined with Izuku spending nearly every moment of free time searching was taking its toll. He needed to rest soon, or his teammates would stage an intervention. (Again.)
Izuku got up and stepped onto the deck for a walk.
As he walked along the deck, Izuku took a deep breath of ocean air. He glanced at the water, where the sun was glistening off the ocean surface. Izuku never got tired of sights like this. That combined with the feeling of moving finally took his mind off the search, letting him relax.
After a few laps, Izuku's phone starting to vibrate. Izuku pulled it out and checked the number. He brightened and answered.
"Hi Mom!"
"Hi sweetie. How are you?" said Mom.
"I'm good!" said Izuku. "Sorry I haven't called lately, we've been very busy over here."
"Oh. I hope it hasn't been too troubling?" said Mom.
"No, nothing too serious." Yet. "We've just had a lot to do."
"I see. How are your friends?"
"They're good," Izuku said. "Up to the same antics as usual."
"I hope they haven't been too difficult," Mom said, with a hint of mirth.
"No, they're fine," Izuku said, "Mostly…" he murmured.
On the other end, Mom chuckled. "I'm glad. What about Ochako? Have you two been keeping in touch?"
"Of course!" said Izuku. "You know we're best friends!
"I know sweetie. It's just…"
Izuku frowned. "Mom?"
Izuku heard what he was pretty sure was the sound of running water. "I'm just so happy you have so many friends!"
Izuku smiled. A tear came to his own eye. "Yeah, I am too," Seven years after High School and that fact still got to him sometimes.
"I'm sorry," Mom said as the running water seemed to stop, "You know me, I just get emotional sometimes."
It's fine Mom," said Izuku. "Trust me, I know exactly how you feel."
"I know. What about your job? It hasn't been too dangerous, right?"
"Nope!" said Izuku. After all, compared to Godzilla, what were a few Gargantuas?
"Good. Sometimes I get worried about you dealing with those animals, them having quirks and all." Technically not all of their powers were quirks, but distinction without difference. "Though I suppose it's worth it for a job that makes you happy. I should just be glad you didn't get a job handling Villains or something…"
Izuku scratched his nose, letting out a nervous chuckle.
He'd told her his job could be dangerous so she wouldn't be completely surprised if he died, but he might have underplayed how dangerous. A lot. In his defense, she'd have a heart attack if she knew, and it wasn't like her worrying could make this any safer.
"Oh by the way, your father wants to speak with you."
"He's there?" said Izuku.
"Yes, he was given the weekend off from work and wanted to come home. I would have told you but…"
"Yeah, couldn't get time off on such short notice even if I tried.," said Izuku. Especially not now.
"Don't worry, we understand. Here he is. I love you."
"Love you too Mom."
Another voice came onto the phone. "Hi Izuku."
"Hey dad," said Izuku. "How's America been?"
"Good. And the Pacific?"
"Good. Mostly work, but still some fun along the way."
"Good to hear," Dad said. "I have to leave soon for my flight. but I wanted to talk with you first. We haven't spoken in a while."
"We haven't? Sorry," said Izuku. With everything happening in his life, he'd honestly forgotten how long it had been since calling Dad. "We haven't seen each other in a while either, have we? We should fix that."
"We should. I would like to see you again," said Dad. "In the meantime…please be safe."
Izuku realized what he really meant. "I can't make any promises, but I'll do my best," Izuku said.
"Stay safe. I love you," said Dad.
"I love you too."
Dad hung up.
He didn't say it, but Izuku had long ago realized his fatehr knew exactly what kind of animal Izuku really dealt with. Still, he'd apparently kept Izuku's secret to Mom, which Izuku was grateful for.
Izuku walked back to his room and opened his computer, glad to have talked with his parents again. While they hadn't been perfect, they'd always done their best for him. Besides…
Izuku took a look around at his teammate's various bunks.
It'd taken a while, but he'd found a place after all.
Ochako searched the fridge. Where is it? I know I left it here?
"Whatcha looking for Ochako?" said Mina behind her.
"The recipe I'm using says to use beer as seasoning. I had a can in here but I can't seem to find it!"
"Oh? That was yours?"
Ochako closed the fridge door and glared at her so-called "friend."
Mina sheepishly grinned, "Oops. I can make it up to you?"
Ochako muttered, "You'd better," and got out the other ingredients. Mina was lucky she was leaving for a week.
After dinner, Ochako helped Setsuna and Kendo pack their luggage (Mina could pack her own!) and helped them carry their stuff to the door.
"See you later Ochako!" Mina said hugging her. "Have fun getting the place to yourself! (Sorry about the beer)."
"We'll settle it later," said Ochako hugging her back. "You have fun with your old classmates."
"Will do! You want me to get All Might's autograph? He'll be there!"
Ochako nodded. "That'd be really cool!"
All Might had been the greatest Hero in the history of Japan, bringing hope and happiness across the world. Even in his final battle, weakened and injured, he raised his fist to the sky so everyone would know he'd triumphed. He was easily Ochako's second favorite Hero after Thirteen! Even Izuku agreed he was the best, and he was fairly lukewarm about him.
"Take care of yourself," said Kendo. "We'll see you when we get back!"
"Yeah! And remember, if you bring home a hot date, we won't judge!" said Setsuna.
"Very funny Setsuna," said Ochako folding her arms.
"Who said I was joking?"
"Come on girls!" Mina said raising her fist. "To Scaris! For a week of fun!"
"To Scaris!"
Once they'd left, Ochako went inside and plopped onto the couch. She hoped they had tons of fun.
As she turned on the TV, she wondered what it was like to have All Might as a teacher? From what they'd told her, he was pretty lousy in his first semester but got better. It was weird to hear about.
(Mina also said her homeroom teacher was the scariest teacher ever, but Ochako was sure that was an exaggeration. Then again, maybe Ochako was just jaded. After all, what teacher could be worse than a drill sergeant?)
Shota sneezed.
Great, Akiba thought. Midoriya's at it again.
For the last several days, he'd spent all his free time on the internet trying to find Godzilla, only leaving for meals and one walk three days ago. After a brief discussion, Akiba and the others had decided: it was time for an intervention. Again. There was just one problem.
None of them wanted to do it.
It wasn't that they had a problem with doing something like forcing his laptop closed, it was just that last time they'd done it, he nearly mauled poor Sekizawa.
So, they decided to draw straws.
Akane held the straws in her fist, letting the others draw them. One by one they made their choice, then, after everyone had chosen, opened their hands.
Wonder who drew the short straw? Akiba thought. His heart sank when he saw his. Guess it's me.
"Don't worry Akiba, you'll be fine," said Azusa with what was definitely not a reassuring smile.
Meanwhile Hayama shrugged and said, "Better you than me."
"I second that," said Sekizawa.
Akane raised an eyebrow and waved Akiba toward their mad leader.
Akiba nervously stepped forward, considering his options. Should he tap Midoriya's shoulder? No, that'd be ineffective. Force the laptop closed? Suicide. Say that they'd found Godzilla? Midoriya would do worse to him for lying about that than he'd done to the poor bastard he'd caught with the bootleg (and slightly skeevy) Uravity poster!
Akiba settled for throwing his shoe between Midoriya's face and his computer, hoping to break his concentration. It passed by Midoriya's face with no reaction.
Great. It seemed he'd have to make physical contact after all.
Off to the side Sekizawa and Azusa were grinning, Akane blatantly trying to hide a smile, and Hayama covering his mouth to hide his own. Traitors.
Akiba crept behind Midoriya, Akiba lifted his foot…
…Only for Midoriya to whip his head around, fixing Akiba with an intense stare.
Akiba yelped as he fell onto his butt, his only saving grace being that the others were too startled to laugh.
Midoriay blinked. "Sorry, was researching. Is something wrong Akiba?"
Akiba was busy taking deep breaths to stave off his heart attack to reply, so Azusa did it for him, "We're staging an intervention. You need to stop."
Midoriya gaped. "But Kisaragi! I haven't even stayed up late, let alone pull an all-nighter like last time!"
"You pulled two last time," muttered Hayama.
"That's because you've spent every other moment doing it," said Akane. "You're running yourself ragged. Again."
"I took a walk!"
"One," she replied.
"Three days ago," said Hayama.
"They're right," said Sekizawa. "It's not healthy to work this hard, physically or mentally. And now is not the time to be reckless with the latter one."
"But-"
"We could be going into battle any day now!" said Hayama. "We need you at your peak, sir! I have no plans of landing in a body bag because you wanted to do someone else's job for them!"
"You're a fighter," said Akiba. "Let the eggheads do their job while you do yours."
"But I can help! You guys know I'm good with this stuff and-"
"We need you at your best if there's a fight," said Akane. "You know that."
"You can't let finding him come at the expense of fighting him," said Sekizawa. "We depend on you to lead us."
Midoriya looked like he wanted to protest, but instead he just sighed and said, "How long?"
"Two hours max," said Akane. "And if we suspect you're cheating, we will break out the stopwatch."
"I hate the stopwatch," Midoriya muttered. He closed his laptop and got up. "Fine. I'll go to the gym. Happy?"
"Sure. I can use a workout too," said Akiba walking next to him. "Lead on Midoriya."
"Eh, got nothing better to do," said Sekizawa, joining, them, chewing some jawbreakers as they went.
The three set out together. Halfway through they got into a competition over who could do the most pull ups. Midoriya won, narrowly edging out Akiba.
That night, Izuku slept. As he did, his mind did its usual work of going over all the day's information, processing it, interpreting it, trying to remove the clutter. Then it came to a realization.
Izuku's eyes shot open. The last post! The one I was about to look at!
Hopping out of bed, Izuku grabbed his laptop and opened it. The post he'd been watching was still there. Footage from a fisherman of a swarm of different kinds of fish inexplicably swimming past his boat as one, with an accompanied hashtag. Izuku clicked it and checked the accompanying posts.
Found you.
Akiba blinked at the light. It was too early to be morning.
He opened his eyes all the way and checked his clock. It was too early to be morning! He turned to see what had woken him up. Midoriya.
Akiba groaned. Of course he'd try to cheat.
Akiba got up and walked over. Normally he'd just close the damn laptop, but he'd just been woken up in the middle of the night. So, commanding officer or not, Akiba was going to kick Midoriya first. Hard.
He lifted his foot, but before he could strike, a hand pushed against his chest. Akiba turned to see Sekizawa next to him, staring at Midoriya with a grim expression. Curious, Akiba leaned over and got a good look at Midoriya's expression in the computer light.
It wasn't the look for when he was searching for something.
It was the look for when he'd found something.
The others started to get up too, but at Akiba and Sekizawa's silent instruction they stayed back. As annoying their leader's obsessiveness could be, they knew better than to interfere. Because while Izuku Midoriya may not be an egghead, he's easily as smart as one. And only one thing could have him looking he did right now…
Various fish fleeing together in inexplicable numbers, fishing drying up, evidence of a very large animal swimming underwater. In similar areas, in similar times.
It was him. Izuku was sure of it. Before going back to bed, Izuku sent links to every post he'd found to Kenji and marked the latest location on his map.
The nearest landmass was Scaris Island.
Hope you enjoyed! Reviews make me smile!
I wanted to include Hisashi Midoriya, if only for a brief cameo. Also I got to have some fun with Izuku's team and their relationship with their fearless leader!
