Tell Them About The Real Me

After Yusei Fudo won the Fortune Cup and stole Jack Atlas' championship title, the young man was bombarded with an endless number of reporters, interview questions and new fans. Everybody wanted to know everything about the new dueling champion from Satellite.

Yusei initially hid in Luna and Leo's apartment until the craze calmed down. But even after three months since the tournament, people were still eager to finally get some dirt on the new turbo dueling king. He turned down every proportion opportunity, sponsorship deal, dueling invitation and interview he got to try and save himself.

That was until Jack finally told him about Carly. Yusei learned that Carly was a caring person, aspiring to be a front-line reporter and did not remember much about her times as a Dark Signer. The first time Yusei met Carly, she seemed very sincere. He was expecting her to ask for an interview, but was surprised when she did not mention anything of the sorts. She was a very nice and corky person.

Carly came around now and again, but still never asked Yusei any questions about himself or his past. Jack told him that Carly was always out for the biggest scoop, so why was she not using her reporter intuition on him?

One day, Yusei decided to get to the bottom of why Carly was not acting like every other reporter he faced.

"Because, if I wrote a story on the things I know about you, then I would be in serious trouble with some people in pretty high places."

Her answer both shocked and confused Yusei. Was he really that much of an important person? What did she really know about him?

After the conversation he had with Carly, Yusei decided to look himself up online, to see what the world actually thought of Yusei Fudo.

Well...what they thought of him was almost nothing like his real self. Article after article, Yusei could not believe the insane stories people were so desperate to write about him. He never worked on the black market. He never plotted to kill Jack Atlas. He was not born in a dumpster, nor was raised by a drug dealer. He most certainly was not a father and never directly attacked Secure Security.

His head started to throb after reading the idiotic comments and lies people wrote about him. This was the exact reason why he wanted to stay clear of the media. They were all phonies, bent on making up lies to fill the publics never-dying need for drama and self-worth.

All of them, except for Carly. If anyone was going to show the world who the real Yusei Fudo was, he wanted that person to be her.

One night, Carly heard a knock at the door. When she opened it, a folded piece of paper was laying on the ground in front of her, but with no one around. The young woman picked up the paper and unfolded it. Hand written words filled the pages. She began reading quietly to herself.

Carly,

As you may know, I have been trying to avoid the media for sometime because I did not want to get involved in their ridiculous game. But that did not stop them from writing lies about me. I want to tell the world about the real Yusei Fudo now, and wanting it to come from a source that I can trust to speak the truth. That source is you, Carly. People want to know everything about their new champion, well here it goes.

1. I was born in the Tops, but raised in a foster home in the Satellite by a great foster-mother. I learned almost everything I know from her and my friends, who are more like brothers to me. Jack Atlas to name one.

2. I knew how to duel before I knew how to read or write. Dueling was a way for my friends and I to have hope in Satellite's darkest days. I never planned to use dueling as anything more than forming great bonds with others.

3. I never give up on people, especially my friends. If New Domino City wants a champion who would step on others to achieve fame and glory, then they better keep looking.

4. I regret many things. Things I have done and especially for things I have not done. I wish I could have helped more children in Satellite. If I was able to, I would go back and stop myself from leaving my friends behind, especially when they needed me the most. I should have never turned my back on my friends.

5. I am not a robot. I am human. I may work with computers and on my runner a lot of the time. I even might forget to sleep or eat every now and again, but I am not obsessed with my work like my father might have been.

6. I get scared just like everybody else. I have been afraid of bugs ever since I was a child. I am especially afraid of losing the ones I am very close to.

7. Yes, I might have feelings for Akiza. But right now, I have to be focused on other things.

8. I was part of a duel gang once, but that was it. Not everybody from Satellite worked the black market, or steals, or is uneducated, or has mental problems. There is no other side of me that is complete criminal in disguise.

9. I might not be the strongest, or muscular, or the most fit guy, but I do know how to fight with my bare hands. Only when I have to, of course.

10. There has been a lot of speculation about the real reason I got the Secure Security mark on my face. The simple truth is I owned a runner illegally, had a few run-ins with the law, escaped Satellite and dueled in the former champion illegally. I do not do drugs, or run the mafia, or attack people.

11. Just because I took part in the Fortune Cup and the events following, does not mean I know or even understand everything that occurred. There are still somethings that I am trying to connect the pieces to. It would be a whole lot easier if people would stop making up ridiculous rumors or accusations about what happened.

12. I only wish to protect the people of New Domino City and the Satellite.

Sincerely,

Yusei Fudo

Carly read the paper four times before finally setting it down on her night stand.

This was it! Yusei had just given her the chance of a life time. With all this information coming directly from Yusei Fudo himself, she could fly to the top of the reporting world. Her lifelong dream was at last coming true.

The only problem was that she there was no way she could use Yusei like some sort of writing prompt after he opened up to her about this.

There was something haunting in the back of her mind, telling her that writing a story about the letter was the wrong thing to do. Even though Yusei asked her to show the world who he truly was, there is something about revealing yourself to the world that dehumanizes you. Secrets and stories make up our personalities. Carly felt that revealing the true Yusei would only make things worse for him.

The morning after she got the letter, Carly emailed Yusei and tried her best to explain her reasons why she did not want to write an article on him. Surprisingly, Yusei was over joyed that she felt that way. It turns out that writing the letter helped Yusei get a whole lot of stress off his chest.

He never really wanted for the whole world to find out about his past. Carly did apologize for not being able to stop the constant flow of lies about him, but Yusei realized it was just something he was going to have to deal with. No one really mentioned anything about the lies to him in real life anyhow.

At least he did not have it as bad as Jack.