Hello all!

Time for another chapter of Green Gaul! Sorry for the wait, we are starting to get into the busy season at work and I've been finding myself more tired and exhausted, so much so I've had to write during lunch hours at my job just to progress. Honestly, I'm thinking of putting Monster Hunting Hero on Hiatus for now so I can focus on my 3 more popular fics.

No reviews this week, enjoy!

[MHA and Asterix and Obelix all belong to their copyright owners, as I do not own any of them.]

Chapter 13

Hide and Seek

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, ends our second round of the Sports Festival!" Present Mic exclaimed through his microphone, "And what a show it's been! But now it's time to get ready for the last event! And you know what that is!"

The crowds in the stadium roared, the reverberations nearly caused the booth which housed the two announcers to shake from the noise, and the loud blonde from within wasn't helping as he too was cheering through the microphone, "THAT'S RIGHT, LISTENERS! IT'S THE ONE-ON-ONE MATCHES! WHO WILL BE THIS YEAR'S CHAMPION OUT OF THE EIGHTEEN HOPEFULS?" YOU'LL HAVE TO TUNE IN AFTER THE LUNCH BREAK, WHERE WE WILL ANNOUNCE THE PAIRINGS!"

As the cheering continued for a few more moments before quieting down with the crowds moving towards the canteens set up within the stadium, Mic pulled off his headphones and turned his gaze to his co-host, who was still furiously writing notes in a notebook.

His fourth one within the last hour.

"Hey, Izuku, it's lunchtime; I think you should go and get something to eat." Mic spoke in a more calmer tone as Izuku just kept scribbling away. The pro hero teacher slowly began to chuckle as he realized that his pseudo-nephew was in the 'zone', the mindset where Izuku was just analyzing the quirks of the students with extreme details and hypotheses for the limitations or unseen effects of the quirk usage, where he would often ignore the world around him.

Slowly, Mic leaned over to look at the notebook, taking care to be extra quiet and not startle the boy, but his slight smirk slowly grew into a large and smug smile, "Say, those are some good drawings of your two 'girlfriends' there, big guy."

A resounding 'thud' echoed in the announcer's box from the speed at which Izuku had closed the book, his partially covered cheeks bright red as his emeralds eyes were wide in shock as Mic cackled loudly, nearly falling off of his chair, "U-Uncle!"

"HAHAHA! The look on your face! Even under the voice changer, I still see you turning into a strawberry!" Mic continued to cackle, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone while Izuku gave him the stink-eye, "I should take a pic and send it to Nem! She'd love it!"

"NO! DON'T!" Izuku shouted, leaping off his chair in an attempt to take the older man's phone, who quickly slid back on the wheels of his chair to avoid the towering teenager.

"Haha, nah nah, I wouldn't do that to you, not yet at least; you know she'd kill me and Shouta if we kept this little tidbit to ourselves," Mic continued to snicker to himself as Izuku collapsed down onto his seat and grumbled low, along with a mutter of 'they aren't my girlfriends' which the blond teacher ignored for now, "Anyway, time for lunch, you want anything? Since I figured you are avoiding the rush at the moment."

The loud pro hero watched from under his glasses as Izuku winced at the statement before lowering his head. Mic could tell that his nephew was still feeling down about avoiding his classmates, who would no doubt be getting in line for food, "I get it, but you are going to have to-"

"M-mom is bringing me some food shortly; she mentioned having lunch together during the break yesterday," Izuku said in a deep but dull tone, thanks to the mask, opening up his book to continue what he was working on. Before that though, Izuku turned his head towards his uncle, 'smiling' towards him with an all too familiar sadness that would have been difficult to see under the voice changer had Mic not seen it a hundred times already in the past few days, "B-But thanks anyway, Uncle Hizashi… Enjoy your lunch."

Shooting a thumbs up and a giant smile to the young man, Mic nodded and turned around, heading towards the locker that had previously stored his jacket. Pulling out his trademark leather from the hanger, Mic smiled deviously as he pushed the rather large duffle bag placed there before either came in for today's events further into the locker, making sure it wouldn't fall out.

After all, the size of the duffle bag would give away the surprise for the green-haired student, and Mic was ready to take a picture of his co-host's face when everything was revealed.

"Here you go, Inko," Lunch Rush spoke through his ventilation mask, handing off the six black bento boxes before placing one in a bright green container on the very top, "And yours is the one on top; you sure this will be enough for the big guy?"

"I hope so; I know Hazashi said that he packed a few snacks up in the booth for Izuku, but I don't think he's been eating as much as he normally would." The short, plump woman sighed gently as he held the surprisingly light boxes. Thankfully, she knew every bento box was full of food, and it was a godsend that Lunch Rush was such a wizard regarding meals.

"Well, he's got tons of proteins and nutrients with each dish, so he should be good as long as he doesn't overdo it for some reason." The pro hero chef shrugged gently, moving away from his stove towards the door leading out to the service halls away from the crowded seating area; thankfully, they would only have participants of the Sports Festival and the teachers/pro heroes who were patrolling about. Since the USJ incident, many local agencies had come to UA's request for additional security, which was a relief for Inko, considering she had to deal with the legal paperwork between UA and the various agencies.

Thank the various gods she kept up with her paralegal skills and all those fees she had to upkeep.

As Lunch Rush pushed open the door for the woman, she smiled and spoke with a gentle 'thank you' and began to make her way towards the elevator that would lead her up to the announcer's booth, when around a corner to her destination, she could overhear two voices.

"Ugh! I can't believe he wasn't at the food stalls either!" The usually perky voice of Mina called out with a grunt escaping her lips when she hit the wall with her back, her arms crossed over her chest, "I would have thought he would be there, considering it's lunchtime and he must be starving with whatever he's doing."

"Kero, while I understood what you meant, considering how his powers work, the way you said it sounded a little mean, Mina." Tsuyu said with her usual blunt, emotionless tone, causing Mina to wince slightly.

"Sorry, Tsu, but I'm just frustrated… I wish Izuku could have been here, even if it was just spectating… watching us show how awesome we are to all those people." Mina grumbled as she slid down the wall to curl into a ball, "Plus, it would allow everyone to see how awesome HE is!"

With a gentle ribbit, Tsu crouched down beside her pink-skinned classmate, sighing gently as she rested against the wall shortly after, "It must be hard to not be able to show the world that you exist like this; we know why it was like this, to protect him while he was young, kero, but even he's starting to get tired of it from what I noticed."

"Yea… I wish we could help Izuku though… I don't like seeing Izuku as upset as he has been, even if he tried to tell us he's fine with that smile of his." Mina groaned as her hair poofed up behind her when she rested it against the cement wall, closing her eyes to think of where else their larger-than-life crush currently was.

A gentle clearing of a throat caught both of the girl's attention, and while Tsu looked on with a tilt of her head in confusion, Mina's face exploded into a shade of purple, considering who was looking at them with a bright smile.

Standing before the pair was a moderately aged woman with a bright smile on her lips and green hair that would make it obvious who she was related to, which was tied into a bun at the back of her head. She was dressed in a business suit with her hands clasped together in front of her. Tsu noticed some rather large bento boxes sitting on the ground just behind the corner where the woman was standing.

"Pardon my intrusion." The woman spoke gently, her smile still beaming brightly, "I couldn't stop from overhearing your conversation from around the corner, and I would love to help you two out."

Before Mina could utter a word, Tsu croaked and began to speak, "That would be grateful, ma'am."

The soft giggles escaping the woman's lips sounded airy momentarily before the dulled emeralds of her eyes looked at Tsu, "Oh! There's no need to be so formal, my dear, and please, call me Inko."

A heavy sigh escaped from Izuku's voice changer mask, leaving him alone for about ten minutes since his uncle went to get food. His pencil gently shaded in a part of Tsu's hero costume, ensuring every finger of her gloves was done correctly. Admittedly, this was more of a coping mechanism for his growing foul mood when it came to the pure mockery of a sports festival he and everyone were watching this year.

To be fair, many of his classmates were doing their best during the first two events. Overcoming odds that gave many of the general studies and business students a bit of trouble, especially the "Robo-Apocalypse".

While some of his classmates didn't end up making it to the third and final event, one of which being Tsu sadly, a good number of them had, and he was happy for those that had, knowing that the following year's event would show some promising changes, especially with those that hadn't gone far.

However, two students were really making his mood foul; one was testing his nerves fiercely that it was taking every ounce of his control to just not jump out of the booth and beat some sense into him. While the boy from general studies named Shinso looked like he was breezing through the first two events, using his quirk "Brainwash" to use other participants for his own advancement.

While he would applaud the clever ways he was doing this, considering the rules were no quirk used outside of events or prep time, the way Shinso was acting was rubbing him the wrong way. A sort of smugness' from the way he would use the others before freeing their minds and walking off like what he was doing was normal. Admittedly, Izuku was pleased to see that Shinso seemed to have taken his advice, as the purple-haired young man was a little more 'beefier' than the last time they spoke outside of his classroom but still far to go compared to some of the other students in both class 1-A and B.

The second and primary headache was, of course, Todoroki. Out of both events, he had not used his fire quirk once, relying heavily on his ice and nearly incapacitating himself during the second event from how much frost was covering his body. The dual-quirked boy's stubborn attitude was really getting on his nerves, especially since if he used a small part of his fire to heat up his body, he would have more chances to use his ice! But no, Todoroki thought that stopping himself from using the smallest of flames was the correct thing to do. Everyone and their grandmother knew that quirks cannot function correctly if you try to suppress an aspect of it and could cause health issues! Honestly, this was getting out of hand, and if someone didn't snap the idiot's mind and end this madness, then Izuku may have to seek help from Hound Dog and drag Todoroki to him.

Izuku paused momentarily, going over his thoughts over the past few moments and frowning to himself. Either he was letting his foul mood get the better of him, or something else was bothering him. His stomach growled viciously suddenly, causing the boy to blink, look down at his gut, and give it a soft pat with his hand.

"Maybe I shouldn't have lowered my portion amounts…"

A knock on the booth door quickly caught Izuku's attention before turning his head back to his notebook and continuing his shading, thinking it was his mother with their lunch, and with the dullness of his voice behind the voice changer, he called out to the door, "Come in."

Focusing on the last bit of shading he wanted to finish before having his lunch with his mother, Izuku didn't notice who had entered the room instead of the shorter woman. The room remained quiet for a few moments as Izuku released the breath he had been unknowingly holding, closed the notebook, and turned around to greet his mother, but instead to find the 'smiling' face of Mina staring right back at him, along with Tsuyu's relatively vacant look, but one could easily read her body language to match that of her pink-skinned counterpart.

"M-Mina? T-Tsu? W-W-What are you doing here? HOW did you get here?" Izuku sprung up from his seat, not realizing he hadn't taken off his mask yet, and the deepened voice coming out from it made the two women lose their smugness and furrowed their brows.

"Hold on! That's-... wait… Izuku, why are you wearing that mask thing?" Mina exclaimed as she had placed her three bento boxes on a nearby table and then marched directly towards him while planting her finger onto his bicep; her bright eyes turned furious, "Hold that thought, first thing's first… WE WERE WORRIED ABOUT YOU, YOU DUMMY!"

Izuku winced slightly from how loud Mina was, quickly removing the mask so she could see his entire face as Tsu's ribbit from the table caught his attention, "We looked everywhere for you before the tournament and just now during the break. Had it not been for Inko, We'd still wander the halls looking for you, kero."

The two women watched as Izuku brought his hand up to the bridge of his nose, muttering 'of course Mom would be involved.' and dragging his large hand down his face before sighing gently, "It wasn't like I was trying to ghost anyone, but… well…" Now Izuku was rubbing the back of his head, trying to best describe the situation without telling them what was revealed in Nezu's office those weeks ago, where he learned about All Might's true form, his injury, and the one who did the deed.

How could he tell his two friends that a possible two-hundred-year-old 'boogeyman' from the first era of Quirks would possibly hunt him down should the two villains he had defeated at the USJ ever escape?

Seeing how Izuku was thinking to himself, Mina and Tsu looked at one another and then back to him and blurted out, "Nezu?"

"Yea…" Izuku sighed and sat back down in his chair, his arms resting on his legs and looking down at the ground with a look of sadness etched on his face as well in his tone, "I honestly wish I could tell you, especially you two since I worried you so much, but until it's resolved, Nezu told me not to say a word."

Seeing the more giant man look completely downtrodden, It was Tsu who was first to move, gently pulling Izuku's head against her body with his arms wrapped around his head, but considering the height difference, Izuku's face had been pressed against her chest which nearly short-circuited the poor boy, "We understand, Izuku, we just wanted you to join us during the tournament and compete with us is all, kero."

A flash of pink suddenly appeared on Tsu's right side, pulling the boy away from the froggy woman and hugged his head tightly to her chest, continuing to 'blue screen' his mind while Mina nuzzled her cheek against the top of his head, "Or even just watch us and see how awesome we have been doing!"

"Mina, you might want to let him go, kero." With her hand on the pink woman's shoulder, Tsu said, "I don't think he could, let alone breathe at the moment." The frog woman ribbited and pointed to the blue-faced man nestled between Mina's cleavage.

Quickly taking a step back and releasing the young man, whose face began to redden again, considering where it was just a few moments ago, and doing his best to block the memory of how it felt, with little success.

Thankfully, Tsu broke the silence with a small ribbit, causing the other two to look at her, "Kero, we don't have much time left before the break is over; we should get back downstairs to get some food."

"H-Huh? You two haven't eaten yet?" Izuku asked, blinking in surprise before his emerald eyes slowly drifted toward the six bentos on the table nearby. Just as Mina and Tsu were about to turn and leave so they could seek out their own lunches, they were abruptly stopped when they felt the large hands of their green-haired crush reach out and take hold of theirs, "Y-You can stay and eat with me."

"Are you sure about that, Midori?" Mina asked, her cheeks a slight purple from the warmth coming from Izuku's hand, with Tsu giving a gentle ribbit beside her and her cheeks a tinge of pink as well while Mina continued to speak, "Don't you need the food?"

"I-I'm not competing, so I don't need all this food, p-plus um…" Now Izuku was returning to his 'strawberry' look, averting his gaze slightly as his hand gently tightened against their hands, "I-It would be nice to have a meal with you two… p-privately…"

That got at least one eyebrow raised on one of the girls. However, the other's often emotionless face could be seen getting redder. Without a second thought, they both smiled at him and gave their response together.

"We'd love to!"

As the three students started to move the table and set up their meals, from the corner of the room, a camera was watching them, feeding into the dean's personal booth/security room where the minuscule chimera was enjoying his meal of tea and wheel of cheese, snickering to himself while watching the antics of his 'son' and two classmates as they enjoyed their time together. Sipping his tea now, Nezu spoke aloud to the other occupant in the room, "My, my… ever the schemer, aren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Dean…" Inko said from her own desk and chair, her now empty pink bento box sealed back up with the plump green-haired woman sipping some of her own tea, "I am just a mother looking out for her baby boy, and I felt that having some of his friends to spend time with would brighten his mood."

"Of course, of course… and it has nothing to do with the bet?"

"Now, Nezu, would you ever think I would manipulate people, let alone my son, to win a silly little betting pool?" Inko gave a trained smirk to her lips, causing the chimera to cackle aloud as she continued, "Besides, it's not like I was the only one to bet for the same circumstance either."

"Too true… Did you know that Kan actually bet that Izuku would end up together with Kendo in his class?"

Inko blinked in confusion, putting the teacup back on its saucer before raising an eyebrow, "Really? That's surprising."

"Indeed," Nezu finished his tea, turning the chair to face the older Midoriya, "Now, back to real business, is everything set up for Izuku's 'internship'?"

"Of course, sir, and while I understand the reasoning, I must admit I'm a little worried that it might be too soon for him." Inko spoke gently, her hands on her lap and fidgeting with one another, "He just started the year; he hasn't even been on a proper work study yet."

"I understand your worries, Inko; I truly do. But, if what All Might had told us is true and he is back, that villain will go after your son, and I'd have peace of mind and less worry if Izuku wasn't hindered by silly human laws to protect himself, not only that, as my personal student throughout these many years, Izuku would technically be considered my 'sidekick', aside from the age requirements, his mind has been instrumental in helping me solve some cases.." Nezu reclined in his chair, his two little paws brought together in front of his muzzle and staring at the woman, "Plus, it would provide less hassle for Getafix when he takes him to France in the summertime."

Inko sighed gently, wringing her hands now; having been told that some boogeyman would hunt down her baby caused her to faint after first hearing the story; well… that and the reveal of the number one hero's much more 'smaller' form. The usually calm lawyer of UA was just a frantic mess recently, but not because of what was lurking in the shadows.

No, it was more the general attitude and way her baby boy looked as of late when she could see him walking through the halls of the University. While he would often don a small smile while hanging out with his classmates and the smallest of blushes when around two of them in particular, Inko could tell that those smiles were hallowed most of the time, a mask to hide what was to happen and something he picked up from both Nezu and Getafix while he was growing up.

Movement from one of the screens caught both Nezu and Inko's attention as they watched Izuku see both of his classmates off to the elevator to return back to the games, a genuine smile on his face from what the mother could tell, before turning bright red when Present Mic had walked off the elevator, saying something that caused Izuku to be embarrassed. Nezu chuckled lightly, "Well, let's prepare for this year's round three, and what a grand time it shall be.

"Hey, Mina, where were you during the break?" Ochako asked the pink-skinned woman stretching her body for the third event, "Iida and I were looking for you wanting to see if you wanted to have lunch together."

"Oh?" Mina's eyes widened slightly before giggling and rubbing her head, "Sorry about that 'Chako! Me and Tsu kinda got wrapped up in trying to find Midori; we ended up having to grab something quick."

"Oh! I'm sorry you couldn't find him… B-but I'm sure he's cheering you, though!" Ochako said with a bright smile, making Mina cover her eyes in jest from how 'bright' it was. Both girls giggled gently before the sound systems blared out the theme of the UA festival, causing the crowds to go wild for the upcoming and well-known event.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WELCOME BACK TO THE THIRD AND FINAL ROUND OF THIS YEAR'S SPORTS FESTIVAL!" Present Mic's voice belted out much louder than the music, causing a few of the more enhanced hearing crowds and participants to glare daggers at the announcer's booth, "And you know what time it is! It's the event you all have been waiting for!" The crowd cheers began to grow louder as the bracket's board was slowly rising out from underneath the arena, which started to kill some of the noise as everyone looked at the board in shock, "With a twist! HAHAHAHA!" Mic had finished, cackling loudly in his speakers.

No one had noticed that eighteen students were on the field until now, with each bracket leading up to three darkened green spots placed right beside the finalists for each bracket. While many in the crowds were confused and talking quite loudly amongst themselves, some of the students on the field looked just as confused, though a few in Class 1-A couldn't help but notice the rather peculiar choice of color for those darkened areas.

"Now, I bet you're asking, what's going on? What are those darkened spots? Well, sports fans, we decided to spice things up this year!" Mic continued to snicker into the microphone before picking it up and moving to the back of the room where the lockers were; all the while, his currently masked co-host remained still, completely in shock, "Because of a certain incident that came up with one of our hero classes, our benevolent overlord Dean Nezu decided that really work our first years over!." Reaching his hand towards the locker door where a particular green-haired powerhouse was still awestruck at what he was looking down at the stadium's center, "The three finalists this year will be facing off against a mystery contender! One who is a proud former or present alumnus of UA University! It could be anyone! From one of our top-ranked third years or maybe one of the teachers! Heck! It could even be a former graduate like All Might himself!"

Mic's smirk grew when he could hear the roaring cheers of the crowds suddenly explode at the possibility of the number one hero possibly participating, "Now, let's all listen to the ever-lovely Midnight explain the rules, and let's get this thing started!"

Flicking off the device in his hand, Present Mic smirked as he opened the locker door. Then Izuku spun his chair, finally snapping out of his stupor, only to be hit with his duffle bag against his chest. The student looked dumbfounded as he caught it in his large arms, looking at it before looking to see the smug look on his uncle's face, "Well? What are you waiting for? You can go change down in the staging room 4A."

Mic had to brace himself against the locker from the speed at which Izuku had left the room, the brightest smile he had ever seen on his pseudo-nephew's face.