365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Recognized

1/26/19

On one hand, they should have expected this to happen after what'd happened in the game, but considering it had just happened the day before, the two weren't exactly thinking about what other people would think. Yusei, at the very least, was very recognizable and practically a celebrity, so it wasn't surprising for people to know that he was StarSavior in the VR game.

On the other hand, Judai was not expecting to be recognized on sight when he walked into the tournament location that day. He was infinitely thankful that it wasn't going to be broadcast at this point, but the fact that people knew him anyways... well, at least it meant his popularity was climbing positively.

"I-I have to ask something," the guy at the counter had said after signing Judai in as 'present', "Do you play the game Duel Dimensions Online?"

He blinked in surprise before nodding his head, which quickly elicited a starry-eyed reaction from counter-dude.

"A-Are you TheSupremeHERO?! You look almost identical!"

The loud exclamation drew the attention of other people around them, who were suddenly very interested in what was happening. Of course, since he wasn't really aware of how many people at this tournament played the game (of which many apparently did, and did so often), he couldn't have been prepared for the chaos he'd cause.

"Hey yeah, that's me!" Judai grinned, slightly confused but rolling with the conversation anyway, "I've been playing it for about two weeks now, it's been pretty fun. I'm guessing you play it too?"

"Holy shit, is this actually him?!"

"Quick, someone post this to the forums-"

"Did he just say he's only been playing it for two weeks and yet he's already legendary what-"

"This goes beyond legendary, in that span of time he got Yusei Fudo of all people to tag duel with him, just who the hell is he and how does he know him?!"

Soon enough the whole room was in an uproar, excited duelists from the game's online community surrounding him with questions that Judai was too overwhelmed to even begin to answer clearly. Luckily he was bailed out by some nearby security guards, who dragged him out of the crowd and away to the tournament waiting room, giving him sympathetic looks along the way.

"With popularity like that, I guess we can be looking forward to some interesting duels from you," one guard laughed, patting him on the shoulder. All Judai could do was laugh nervously, still slightly shocked by how many people knew who he was from the game alone.

Well, at least it meant he'd already made a name for himself, but now there was more pressure to live up to it in this tournament and show his worth as a duelist in real life. If anything, Judai wanted to win even more now, because based on what people were saying back there, he had a lot to prove...

Like the fact that he's more than good enough to be Yusei's partner.

Determinedly, he pulled out his cards, sorting through them and restructuring his deck with all of his side cards; he had planned for having to make his deck up to par with more powerful opponents, but now that he had something to prove, he was going to go in with a much stronger variant of his deck.

In the back of his mind, he felt Yubel hum with glee and Haou tense in anticipation for the upcoming duels.

Oh, he'd have fun with this tournament, alright - fun making the audience erupt into chaos when he methodically tore apart all of his enemies' strategies and best cards.

For Yusei's sake though, he'd try not to smile too wickedly. Judai wasn't Haou after all, and he didn't get a kick out of his enemy's misery - he just happened to enjoy proving himself to others when they doubted him. It was something he'd been having to do for years now, and people's reactions were always amusing when he succeeded.