"They think it's a gang or something that's doing it, using the name 'Ground Zero' for various members and their various crimes," Kirishima explained. "It's not impossible, I mean, we have no pictures to prove Ground Zero is real."
"And who came up with this theory?" Bakugo asked furiously, leaning an elbow on the counter.
"Principle Nezu. He announced it last night at a press conference, No wonder you're out of the loop," Kirishima chuckled, throwing an arm around his coworker's shoulders. "You had a conference last night, didn't you?"
"Yeah," he muttered quietly, not meeting him in the eyes.
"So, what do you think, Ochako?" Kirishima asked, out of not having heard from the brunette in awhile. "Do you think he's real?"
She paled. She knew he was real, but she couldn't say that! "Um-"
"I for one think he is," he interrupted. "They're just jealous that a guy could be that good at something and not get caught. Ground Zero's a real badass."
Bakugo covered his mouth to hide a growing smirk.
"Are you praising a criminal?" Bakugo rose an eyebrow.
Kirishima held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, hey, I'm not praising him! I still wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley. I'm just saying that he's too badass to get caught. Criminals can be badass."
"I-I...um-" Ochako stuttered. There was no way in hell she could tell them she believed in Ground Zero without giving an explanation. Somehow, she doubted they would fall for the 'badass' excuse. "No," she finally spoke, deciding to play it safe. "I don't think he's real."
"Hm," Bakugo mumbled an unintelligible reply. His eyes were looking off to the side. Whatever was plaguing his thoughts, he looked to be deep in thought about it.
"What about you, man?" Kirishima asked the barista. "What do you think?"
Bakugo snapped out of his stupor. "I think he's real. Just like you said," he smirked, "he's too badass."
Kirishima roared with laughter. Ochako bent down to pick up her bag and made her way to work.
Bakugo's pov
This whole town is stupid. How could they ever think that I could be not real and actually some gang.
"I AM REAL" I shout to the blank wall of my apartment. My anger needs some way of coming out, how should I get my revenge? Steal something? I already do that all the time. Kill? That may be over a little over the top.
I got it, The one way to fix this is to go to the source of this up roar. Principal Nezu. I'm not going to kill him, I'm just going to teach him a lesson.
This is so aggravating, I would have been fine with it all if Ochako didn't say that she didn't believe in me. She knows that I'm real. Why did she have to fuel the flame by lying.
I shouldn't care about her opinion even if I know it's not true, but maybe it is my soulmark talking but I just can't help but listen.