All Who Wander [Chapter 18 - MUSHROOMS]

Hizashi was already awake when Izuku stepped out of his tent, and for a moment he just stared, blinking at him in surprise. He wasn’t used to having other people around in the morning, it was weird to not just find a silent, solitary, farm or forest outside his door – well, flap.

“Good morning!” Hizashi said brightly. “There’s scrambled egg for you by the fire, I put a little surprise in them.”

Izuku hurried over to look, grinning when he found finely chopped mushrooms mixed in with the egg, grabbing his spoon to dig in.

“Are there a ton of them?” Izuku asked, as he scooped out his first mouthful. “We always find a lot around this area.”

“So many,” Hizashi agreed. “I thought maybe we should spend a little time gathering some, before we head to town. It’ll save your friend a trip, right?”

“That sounds great! Will we still get to town today, though?”

“Absolutely, we can spend some time gathering and still get there in time for dinner.”

“Perfect!”

Hizashi packed up his tent while Izuku ate, loading his gear back into Oboro’s saddlebags, and soon Izuku was joining him, deflating his own little home and rolling it up into the usual bundle. He showed Hizashi all the best places to harvest mushrooms, when they were packed and ready, leaving the little ones behind to keep growing, but carefully plucking off the biggest ones to take with them. It didn’t take long before the Mei Box was packed full of them, every crevice between the jars and bundles loaded up with their haul, and Izuku grinned as they tacked up their horses to get going. There were still so many mushrooms left behind, even after their harvest, and Izuku was relived to know his family wouldn’t be going hungry any time soon.

Izuku felt a little stiff when he climbed into his saddle, pausing to stroke Detour’s mane fondly. He was sure he would get used to riding so much, over time, but for now, the second day was a rough one. He was just grateful that Detour seemed to do all the work for him, so he didn’t have to stress too much about directing or controlling him.

“Good boy,” Izuku said softly. “Thanks for the help.”

True to Hizashi’s word, the sun was still up when they crested the hill to town, and Izuku laughed when people began calling out to their friends and families – any time a horse came riding into town, everyone knew it meant a trader, and every household wanted to be the first one there to buy the best wares on offer.

“Izuku?”

“Mei!”

He leapt off his horse, stumbling a little as he hurried toward her, and she met him halfway with a hug, holding him tightly.

“It’s been so long,” he said, squeezing her hard. “How are you?!”

“I’m good!” she assured him. “When did you get a horse?!”

“Recently! It’s so much quicker to come visit, now! I’m still learning, but it’s so helpful to have one. Come meet him!”

Hizashi held an extra set of reins, from atop Oboro’s back, but Detour had made no move to run off, anyway. He just stood there, watching with his big, dark eyes, and Izuku grinned as he switched his hug over from Mei to Detour.

“Detour, this is Mei! We grew up together and I’ve missed her terribly. Can she say hi?”

Detour just stared, and Izuku took Mei’s hand, lifting it slowly for Detour to watch and sniff.

“Good boy!” he praised, when Detour didn’t move away. “You wanna pat him?”

Mei laid her hand on his neck, stroking gently, and Izuku leaned in closer, resting his cheek against Detour’s neck.

“Isn’t he so handsome?” Izuku said fondly. “He’s a big sweetheart, Pony made a good match!”

“You’re gonna have to tell us all about it!”

“Shall we go settle in first?” Hizashi suggested, stepping down from his saddle with a lot less haste and tripping than Izuku had. “Then I can get set up for everyone.”

Izuku glanced back at all the hovering faces, clutching their bags of coins, and grinned knowingly as he took Detour’s reins.

“Sounds good!” he agreed. “I need to show Mom and Mei everything we brought!”

They headed toward Inko’s house, leading the horses along behind, letting Mei chatter away to catch them up on things as they walked. Together they set up their rope fence out the back of the house, in a little patch of grass, and soon Inko was coming out to meet them, bursting into tears when she saw Izuku standing there. He laughed brightly, and Mei took the reins from Izuku, freeing him up to go give her a hug.

“I thought it was just Hizashi!” she sobbed. “I was already happy, but now you’re here too!”

“Hi Mom,” Izuku said fondly. “I missed you too.”

“Welcome home!”

“Thank you,” he chuckled. “It’s good to be home.”

When they’d unloaded their gear, letting the horses wander off to graze, Hizashi excused himself to go do some trading with the residents. Izuku sat down in his old living room with his two favourite people in the world, setting the Mei Box in the middle of the room for them to open up together. He unloaded all the mushrooms first, transferring them into a bowl his mother brought out, but then he was into the jars and bundles, excitedly pulling them out to show off.

“This is a blueberry jam, Eri taught me how to make it with some sugar Nejire gave me. We weren’t sure the blueberries would last long enough, on their own, so we turned them into this! We ate some back in Chimura with custard and that was amazing, so I brought some eggs and milk, and the last of my sugar, and thought we could do the same.”

“And the jams last longer?” Mei asked. “That must be good for getting through winter.”

“Yeah! Exactly! They’ve been stocking up cherry jam for the winter, from when the harvest was abundant – I brought one of those too, Aizawa insisted – and they did something similar with the tomatoes, to make them last as well. I think I could make the jam again with the right ingredients, but I’m not sure how they did the tomatoes. Here!”

With Inko taking the jams, it freed Izuku up to produce a jar of tomatoes, shaking it lightly to watch the contents jiggle.

“Mirio said they go a little mushier after jarring, they tried it out to make sure they’d still taste okay, but they’re really good for soups and things, which will be handy for the winter! They’re still harvesting a few more tomatoes now, and they get radishes right up until it snows, so they’ve promised to send some up here before winter, to help you get through. I hope you’ve been doing okay without me here to help.”

“Izuku, we’re doing better than we ever have,” Inko assured him, smiling fondly. “You’ve taken such good care of us, sending us so much amazing food! I know Hizashi won’t get up here much in winter, but we’ve been doing our own preparations too, like usual, so I’m sure we’ll be just fine.”

“Still,” Izuku said firmly. “I’m staying a few days, I hope, so I’ll help you out while I’m here! We can get all the mushrooms and potatoes in, and I’ll make sure there’s plenty of firewood cut.”

“Thank you, Izuku, you’re such a good son. I hope you don’t worry about us too much, while you’re away. You should be out having fun, not worrying!”

“I have plenty of fun!” Izuku promised. “I’ve been out in Tsuricho for a few weeks, you probably heard, and they have a store there where Rikido cooks food for everyone and they come buy their dinner, so we’ve had a blast cooking together! And Eijirou taught me to fish, I’m still not very good at it but I’m glad I learned, and the fish tastes amazing after all the gross preparation part is done! I was gonna bring coconuts too but they’re pretty bulky to carry so I sold a lot of them in Chimura, and instead I brought you a jar of the dried and chopped coconut flesh, so you can just mix it into things as you want! It should last ages, they said.”

“That sounds amazing.”

“Oh and of course I brought fresh tomatoes and lettuce too, plus oil and vinegar so you won’t need to trade for those. Rikido showed me how to make a kind of sauce that he uses for the fish, and it turns out it’s amazing on lettuce, so maybe we could have salad with cheese for dinner tonight, and then make custard for dessert!”

“I’m looking forward to it already!”

When Izuku’s stomach growled, they quickly moved their conversation to the kitchen, working together on washing and chopping salad ingredients, before Izuku shook up a little cup of oil and vinegar to make the sauce. Hizashi returned just in time for them to plate everything up, though he took a little pushing to actually join them, and together they all sat down to devour huge bowls of salad. If you’d asked him a year ago, Izuku would never have believed he’d be sitting there with his friends and family, eating foods he’d never even heard of – he really was the luckiest man in the world.

Izuku moved on to the custard next, and Hizashi insisted on helping, while Mei and Inko watched curiously. It always made Izuku a little nervous to cook it, scared he might burn it and ruin the entire pot, but Hizashi was calm and confident, so Izuku breathed a sigh of relief when he took over the stirring. They split the batch into four bowls, spooning jam over the top for the beautiful fruity flavour, and Izuku handed two of them over, watching eagerly as Inko and Mei took their first bites.

“I know,” he said, when their faces changed immediately. “We’re so lucky to live in a world with custard and berries!”

Inko made sure to get every scrap of the custard and jams with her spoon, but Mei took the less subtle approach, picking up her bowl and licking it clean. Inko gave her a look for it, but Izuku and Hizashi just laughed – it was nice to see someone appreciate your cooking that much, and they hardly needed perfect table manners around their friends and family.

Inko retired to her bedroom when she began to yawn, hugging Izuku one last time as she valiantly held back another bout of tears, and Hizashi wasn’t far behind, heading up to Izuku’s room to rest. Izuku and Mei, though, remained in the living room, sharing every little detail of everything they’d done in the time they’d been apart. Izuku regaled her with every conversation he’d had, with every person he’d met along the way, while Mei caught him up on all the happenings in town that she hadn’t wanted to say publicly, earlier in the evening, with company around. She told him all about her experiments, too, even though he only understood half of it, and Izuku found himself glancing over at the little pile of gear he’d brought in, stacked neatly in a corner.

“My tent is so amazing,” he said, when she paused knowingly. “Everyone is so amazed by it when they see, Hizashi was telling me you should make them and sell them to traders, that you’d earn a fortune from them. I thought that’s probably too time consuming and resource intensive, though. I still don’t even know how you make that waterproof fabric.”

“Maybe,” she hummed thoughtfully. “Most of it is just that potato glue I make, to seal the seams and things. I can get fancier coatings, but they cost more and I don’t get the opportunity often; that was what I used for yours, I had the fabric here waiting for the right project. The traders already have waterproof stuff though, so I could maybe just replace the pole system with an inflatable one. I have a few extra tubes around anyway, from making yours, so I could always try it out. Can I borrow yours back for a bit, while you’re here? I’ll check everything’s in top condition for you.”

“Of course! Thank you so much!”

“I’ve been pretty good on money lately anyway, I’ve been selling the mushrooms and potatoes we don’t need, since you keep sending us so much other stuff. I feel spoiled for choice now, like why would I eat a potato if I could have tomatoes or something, you know? We had a storm a little while back too, which caused damage to some of the houses – we were fine, don’t worry, it was further into town that took the hit – so I’ve been helping out with the repair efforts and getting paid for those, too. I’m the only one with some of the materials we need readily available, after years of them saying I was hoarding things!”

“That’ll show ‘em,” Izuku laughed. “I’m glad you’re doing well. I’ve been pretty decent too, selling crops and things, though I spent a ton of money on Detour and his gear. I still need to get some saddlebags made for him, too, so I’ll be scrounging for coins back in Chimura for that.”

“Like Hizashi’s?” Mei asked, glancing over at the other saddle. “They don’t seem very comfortable to ride with.”

“I don’t think mine need to be as big. He carries a lot of goods around for trading, I just want space for my tent and for Detour’s grooming tools and things! I’m hoping I can find a way to attach the Mei Box, too, so I don’t have to wear it while I ride.”

“The Mei Box?”

“Well you didn’t exactly give me a name for it,” Izuku said sheepishly, his face warm.

“I didn’t give it one.”

“Then you can’t complain!” he insisted, poking his tongue out at her. “Mei Box it is!”

“Is it working well?”

“I think so! I haven’t done the math or anything, but I feel like my food is fresher, like my lettuce doesn’t go limp as quickly.”

“I’m glad. Just make sure you don’t hit it with an axe, I tried that on the prototype and it exploded.”

“Do you really think I was planning on it?”

“You never know!”

The sun was rising beyond the windows, by the time their laughter and chatter began to trail off in favour of yawns and eye-rubbing, and finally, when Mei stood up, Izuku gave her one last knowing hug.

“See you later?” he asked.

“You know it,” she agreed. “Get some rest.”

She took his tent and headed out, and Izuku finally lay down, curling up on the couch with a warm blanket and a soft pillow his mother had brought out for him.

As much as he loved to travel, it was so good to be home.

───

“You’ll be fine, I promise,” Hizashi assured him, as he lifted his saddle onto Oboro’s back. “It’ll only take you a day to get down, I’ll set up a pen at the bottom tonight and leave it there for you to use. Stay as long as you want, make the most of it.”

He didn’t say the words directly, but Izuku knew what he meant – with winter coming, the chances of him making another trip any time soon were slim. He could settle in back home with his mother for the season, sure, but then it would feel like starting over when spring came. Not to mention he would probably have more food options out Tsuricho way – as far as he knew, it didn’t snow there, so it was a good chance to prepare the dirt for the spring, and hope for better luck with his planting when the time came. The idea of being so far from his family, though, for so long, was hard to think about.

“Take him for a ride every so often, while you’re here,” Hizashi instructed. “He’ll appreciate the exercise, and you could always gather some more mushrooms and potatoes with his help.”

“Oh! I didn’t think about that. I could ride pretty far on him and still get back the same day.”

“Yep! So stay as long as you want, enjoy your time, do some cooking! I’ll see you when you get back, whenever that is.”

With his goodbyes said and a last wave back at Izuku, Hizashi rode off into the trees, and Izuku watched until he was long out of sight. Hizashi had so much faith in him, and while he appreciated that, it also terrified him.

“Hey boy, you wanna go for a walk?” he asked, rubbing Detour’s nose fondly. “We can go harvest some food.”

Mei had already headed into town to get some repair work done, and Inko was still sound asleep after their late night, so Izuku knew he had a good couple of hours before they’d want to do anything together. He’d offered to go help out with Mei’s work, but she’d brushed him off, insisted he take some time to settle in and hang out with his mother before they inevitably put him to work again. She had said something about wood, though, in her messy recollections of what they’d been doing. She’d used all the good cuts of firewood as repair materials, so maybe Izuku would bring some back for her, to dry out in time for winter.

He saddled Detour up, bringing along the Mei Box and his empty coconut sack to help out, then climbed up to head into the forest. He chose the direction he and Mei usually avoided, the way where they had to go much too far to make it really worth it – maybe with Detour he’d be able to remedy that issue. Despite sticking to a walk, it had already taken them half the time to get home as it had on foot, so in theory, he could go twice as far into the forest, if he really wanted to.

Sure enough, as they got deeper, things got progressively more untouched. The paths weren’t as clear, the trees were more overgrown, but Detour stepped over it all with ease, not breaking his stride. It didn’t take them long to reach the little patch of potatoes that they occasionally ventured to, and Izuku climbed off to start digging, letting Detour wander around him and graze contentedly.

The potatoes he dug out were massive, and Izuku was delighted to see them, brandishing them proudly in Detour’s face while he just blinked impassively – he’d be much more excited by a sugar plant, Izuku knew, but he had no idea how that process worked, so Detour was just gonna have to put up with grass until one of the traders got some sugar in again.

When he was happy that he’d dug up every potato in range, they began to walk back toward home, gathering fallen logs along the way. He tossed them into his coconut bag, though it turned out they weren’t fans of actually staying in said bag, preferring to slide out a hole at the first opportunity. After some thought, Izuku lifted the Mei Box onto Detour’s back, tying it in place as best as he could with only the carrying strap to secure it, freeing up both his hands to focus on bagging and carrying wood along their walk back. Some day soon he’d borrow Mei’s axe and go cut some proper pieces, but for now, at least he had a small stock that could start drying out.

“I’m home!” he called, when Detour was safely back in the rope pen.

“Welcome home!” Inko called back, her voice catching a little – she didn’t get to say those words often anymore. “You were out early!”

“I couldn’t sleep,” he said sheepishly. “I sent Hizashi off, then took Detour out for a walk. We got some potatoes too! Look how huge these are!”

He set the Mei Box on the kitchen floor, opening it up to show her, and Inko gave a much more appropriate reaction than Detour had – enthusing over the spoils and praising him for finding them. This was why he needed humans in his life, he supposed.

“I’ve done hash browns and fried eggs for breakfast,” Inko told him, reaching for two plates to dish it out. “It’s one of my go-to meals these days, whenever Hizashi comes by with eggs. He insists on me taking some in return for him staying over, it’s very sweet, and he’s been trying to talk me into getting a chicken, so I can have them all the time.”

“Oh! That would be so cool!” Izuku gushed. “I bet Mei and I could build you a little coop for them, and they’d have plenty of grass to roam in. Mirio feeds his ones seeds of some sort too, I’ll have to find out what it is so we can sort out food for them!”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” Inko said fondly. “But I appreciate the enthusiasm.”

“It would be great, though,” Izuku insisted. “They lay eggs every day, it’s amazing.”

“I’ll think about it,” she assured him. “I’ll let you know what I decide.”

“Okay,” he caved. “For now, I’ll send you eggs whenever I can!”

They sat down together to eat their breakfast, and Izuku sighed contentedly, smiling to himself as he looked around. It always felt so nostalgic, just sitting there eating potatoes with his mother, and he knew he appreciated those moments so much more since being away. Even if nothing else had come of his trip, that would have been enough.

“I’ve been thinking about the winter,” Izuku said quietly, when he’d cleared his plate with gusto. “I think it’s gonna be too cold and snowy to travel as easily, pretty soon.”

“I agree,” Inko said, surprisingly resolute. “You should find somewhere you can settle in and be safe, when the blizzards start. Don’t get caught halfway between towns or anything.”

Izuku stared at her, lost for words, but she didn’t even seem to notice.

“You said it’s been hot in Tsuricho, right? So maybe they get less snow than us, it might be a good place to put down roots for a little while, with your friends.”

“I don’t think it snows there,” Izuku agreed. “But I thought...”

“What, sweetie? Oh, are you trying to warn me you won’t get to visit for a while? I’d already guessed that, honey. I appreciate you coming home to visit, and I always love seeing you of course, but I know your dreams are beyond this town, and I wouldn’t want to hold you back. I’ll see you again soon enough, and you’ll have thousands of wonderful new stories for me.”

“I love you,” he said softly. “You’re the best mother ever.”

“I don’t know about that,” she chuckled, “but I’m trying my best!”

“I’m thinking about spending the winter in Tsuricho, like you said,” Izuku explained. “I haven’t had much luck growing plants there, yet, so I thought it would be a good chance to get things set up for the spring. There’s an island, too, that I want to visit – the townspeople hardly ever go over, but I’m hoping one of my friends will take me, even if it’s just one time.”

“It sounds like you’ll have the best winter of your life,” Inko said fondly. “We’ll be just fine, here. I promise.”

───

It took an entire week before Izuku decided to leave again. He’d cooked with his mother, he’d hung out with Mei, he’d cut so much firewood that he thought his arms might fall off, he’d even helped with some minor clean-up around the town, which admittedly was looking pretty normal after all the work the others had already done. As much as he would have loved to spend more time with Inko and Mei, he knew it was time to go.

With the sun barely peeking over the horizon, and his stomach pleasantly full from a last breakfast with Inko, he took down his rope fence, turning to give Mei a smile as she came running over from her lab. She’d insisted on bringing him his tent when they said goodbye, and not a moment sooner – he was pretty sure it was just a ransom to make sure he couldn’t leave without saying goodbye. In her arms, though, she held two sets of equipment, and his smile turned into a confused frown as she approached.

“I hope these do everything you wanted.”

She held out something made of thick leather backed with soft, smooth fabric, and it took Izuku a moment to understand, when she glanced over at Detour.

“Did you make me saddlebags?” he asked, in disbelief. “How?!”

“I took a good look at Hizashi’s before he left,” she laughed. “And measured your saddle to make sure they fit. Can we try them out? I can probably do some minor alterations before you leave.”

He lifted them onto Detour’s back, and Mei helped him get them in place, using leather cord to tie them to his saddle. They hung down on Detour’s sides, leaving a clear space in between with a couple of thick leather straps, and Izuku knew before Mei could even open her mouth.

“For the Mei box?!” he asked excitedly. “It looks perfect!”

“I hope so! I did plenty of measuring!”

They lifted it up together, and Izuku held it there as Mei pulled the straps into place, attaching them to the same metal loops where the carry strap met the box.

“I think it should be doable on your own, with a little practice,” she assured him. “I just want to make sure it all works, this time.”

“It looks amazing.”

“I figure you’ll take this off separately, so it’s easy enough to attach and detach. The bags you’ll need to untie, but Hizashi just lifts the whole saddle off, when he does it, so that might be an easier approach. These back ones will fit your tent on one side, and your blankets and pump on the other, to help keep the weight balanced, so you’ll empty them when you stop for the nights anyway. And I think you should be able to wear your backpack pretty comfortably, but you could also try strapping it to the top of the Mei Box, to see if that’s nicer. I’m not sure what you’ll get in these front ones, since they’re smaller, but I figured you could work that out – even if it’s just water and food.”

“I bet they’d hold my ropes for the fences,” Izuku said immediately. “And most of my grooming tools. It’s all perfect, Mei, thank you so much.”

“I’m always happy to help,” she assured him. “I did a few touch-ups on your tent, too. I added some extra coverage on the vents, so if it rains it’ll help deflect the water away from the vents, and I’ve added a second layer in the floor which you can inflate, to give yourself a little distance from the ground. It should keep you a little warmer, as the weather cools down, and hopefully save a little backache – though I saw you’ve been collecting straw and wool for that, too.”

“Eri collected a bunch of stuff to pad out my sleeping bag,” he said fondly. “I’ll probably need the sleeping bag for warmth again soon, though, so this is perfect timing. I’ll add the wool to my pillow instead, since it’s getting a little worn out!”

“I stuck a couple of spare tubes in there too,” Mei told him, gesturing toward the tent bundle. “I had them left over, so I figured you may as well have them in case one gets damaged or anything, and you need to replace it. They’re all waterproofed and everything so you can just swap a section in with no issues.”

“I don’t think I’d know how!”

“It’s simple enough, you’ll figure it out if you get there. Hopefully you won’t need them anyway, but I had them on hand, figured they were better off with you while you’re gone a while!”

Mei walked with him, when he began to leave, both of them picking mushrooms along the way. They were getting big and strong, he noted with delight, as they took turns dropping handfuls into the Mei Box.

“I’d better head back,” she said, when the sun rose above the trees. “It’s been good to see you, Izuku. Take care, alright? I’ll see you in spring.”

Izuku swallowed hard, a lump forming in his throat that made it difficult. It sounded like so long, when she put it that way, even though he knew it would pass so much quicker than he expected.

“I’ll miss you,” he said, flinging his arms around her in a desperate hug. “Take care of my mom, okay? And if you think you’re gonna run out of food, or if anything goes wrong, try to get to Chimura and they’ll help you – there’s no way Mirio wouldn’t help, I promise. I’ll try to send stuff before winter, if any traders come through. And take the mushrooms, too!”

“Don’t worry about us,” Mei chuckled. “We’ll get through like we always have. We’ve got plenty of food stocked up, and I can always go dig up the little potatoes from the snow if I need to. The mushrooms are yours, share them with your new friends and think of us. Just stay safe, okay?”

“I will, I promise.”

With tears pouring down his face, he climbed up onto Detour’s back, waving frantically as they headed in opposite directions. When Mei turned a corner, he finally sat in his saddle properly, reaching to stroke Detour’s mane to comfort himself.

“Sorry for the scene,” he whispered, when his tears began to calm down. “I’m glad I have you to keep me company, Detour. You can pick any treat you want, when we get to the farm.”

Detour made a happy noise, and Izuku managed a laugh, wiping his eyes stubbornly and sitting up a little straighter. He had a whole day of riding ahead of him, before he could set up his tent in Chimura, and then a whole new adventure would be ready for him on the other side.