Is ZeKu Now Canon?

_{Speculation arises over some surprising pictures of Pro Heroes Ground Zero and Deku!}

_{by OONO Rian}

[Image: The backs of Pro Hero Ground Zero walking next to Pro Hero Deku in full hero regalia, hands brushing against each other; blurry appears to be the sides of both Heroes Shouto and Red Riot framing the two as they walk down the historic streets of Lyon.]

Fan theories have been numerous for the so-called Wonder Duo since their debut proper three years ago – from the supposed “ramen dates chronicled on Twitter” to the whole “are Ground Zero and Deku actually at HeroCon together or are these two very scarily accurate cosplayers” debacle (we still do not have a definitive answer for that one) – but the two have remained mum whether or not their relationship is more than friends or not. But this week’s slew of photos of the two – with fellow heroes Shouto and Red Riot – have brought the questions to the forefront once again.

We all knew that Deku and Shouto were announced to be two of Japan’s representative to this year’s International Hero Symposium in Lyon, France (which we hope has been fun so far boys, even though Pro Hero Eraserhead was picked as Japan’s lead this year) so suddenly seeing Ground Zero and Red Riot tagging along to lunches on the Rhône river, late night viewings of cinematic history and trips to listen to the pipe organ at the church of Saint Francis of Sales was a surprise!

[Image: The four Pro Heroes in civilian clothes posing as they stand in front of the massive pipes at St Fracis de Sales Catholic Church, throwing Victory signs.]

[Video: The four (in different clothes) are surrounded by fans requesting autographs in a small cinema; there’s exclamations in French loosely translated to “Thre’s 5 minutes before the movie starts!”]

[Image: Slightly different angle, inside the cinema still, Deku and Ground Zero sit next to each other, hands hidden by a large popcorn. Shouto sits next to Deku with Red Riot on his other side, looking at the screen with his normal cool expression even as Red Riot is manly crying.]

[Image: Deku and Ground Zero fishing a wet Red Riot out of the river as Shouto speaks with local heroine La Pucellee du Monde. All five are in their hero suits.]

But the Holy Grail for ZeKu shippers is this right here:

[Image: Ground Zero and Deku in nice civilian clothes, sitting across each other at a small table on the veranda of a restaurant. It’s night, allowing viewers to see the twinkling skyline of Lyon. Deku is holding out his fork so Ground Zero can take a bit of some dessert he has in front of him.]

The above image was sent to us from a source that would prefer to remain anonymous at this time. Per Tweets by Red Riot himself, he and Shouto were visiting the Opéra National de Lyon on their own (which brings up speculation of its own, is this blossoming ShoutoRiot or just two friends giving their other friends some privacy?) during the time this picture was taken so this was definitely a candlelit dinner for two!

Does that mean we’ll have confirmation that these two are actually together or are they going to remain playing the “Childhood Friends” card? When our zine reached their respective agencies for comments, reporters here at the Daily! were informed that “So long as they remember to do their jobs, they’re free to take in the city on their off time” – these boys seem to either have a lot of free time around the various talks and presentations or they’re doing their jobs at the wee hours of the morning (either is probable with these four).

So nothing yet, but we’ll see what else they get into during the last days of the conference and maybe we’ll get that confirmation when they return home!