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'''Yusaku Fujiki''' ({{Ruby|藤|ふじ}}{{Ruby|木|き}} {{Ruby|遊|ゆう}}{{Ruby|作|さく}}, ''Fujiki Yūsaku''), known as '''Playmaker''' in [[LINK VRAINS]], is the protagonist of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS]]''.<ref name="jumpfesta">{{cite web | url = https://ygorganization.com/jump-festa-2017-latest-information-stage/ | title = <nowiki>The Organization | [Jump Festa 2017] Latest Information Stage: 6th Yu-Gi-Oh! Anime</nowiki> | publisher = YGOrganization | date = December 17, 2016 | accessdate = December 17, 2016}}</ref> A victim of the [[Hanoi Project]], he battles against the [[Knights of Hanoi]] in order to avenge his past with the aid of his friend [[Kal Kolter]] and the [[Ignis]] that he has captured, [[Ai]].
==Design==
===Personality===
Yusaku may be the first Yu-Gi-Oh protagonist who is an anti-hero. He is not a bad person, but he can appear cold and apathetic. Yusaku is described as a boy who doesn't like standing out at school, not that he's timid or shy but because he is a hacker. Due to a certain incident, he generally tries to avoid contact with others and only seems to trust [[Kal Kolter|Kolter]]. However, he gets drawn into encounters with people as he tries out Dueling for once.<ref name="jumpfesta" />
Yusaku is calm and collected most of the time. Outside of Duels he is shown to be intelligent and clever, but also calculating, standoffish, reserved, and somewhat anti-social. He prefers to distance himself from others and doesn't usually interact with people, not even remembering his classmates' names after a month in school. When [[Naoki Shima]] tried to be friendly with him, Yusaku casually admitted to being a loner and inadvertently irritated Naoki with his observations, then didn't react to Naoki storming off. In public, Yusaku comes off as rather awkward and often doesn't know how to answer questions, leading others to assume things about him, such as when Naoki assumed he wanted to join the Duel Club and Skye assumed he wanted new equipment from SOL. Despite his aloof and calm demeanor Yusaku can be quite sullen when it comes to dealing with Ai's antics.
Yusaku was one of the six kidnapped children, who were used for the [[Hanoi Project]]. He woke up in a white, empty room, with VR goggles. He placed them on, and was forced to [[Duel]], with the penalties being electrocuted and having nothing to eat if he lost. This repeated on for months, as he tried to Duel on. After six months passed Yusaku collapsed, a voice told him he should not give up, and advised him to think of three reasons why to continue fighting. Yusaku asked who the voice was, but the voice told him he'd soon go home. The system was disbanded, and while Yusaku was rescued, the incident was covered up and not mentioned in the media. Yusaku developed PTSD after the incident and went under treatments to cure it for years, but failed and continuously faced the tragedies that befell him. Instead, he took his [[Main Deck|Deck]] to confront his trauma, promising to "face his destiny". While Yusaku refused to believe he was rescued from this project, named "Hanoi Project",<ref name="ep19">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|19|ref}}</ref> though he still took the advice to think of three reasons to continue fighting.<ref name="ep11" />
Yusaku decided to hunt down the [[Knights of Hanoi]], whom he believed to be responsible for the "Hanoi Project", under the alias "Playmaker" with [[Kolter]]'s help. "Playmaker" soon became a famous [[Duelist]] within LINK VRAINS, with no one knowing what his real identity is because he always deleted his activity logs.<ref name="ep1">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|1|ref}}</ref>
===Hanoi===
[[File:Yusaku and Kusanagi disccussing.png|thumb|left|Yusaku and Kolter talking about the A.I.]]
[[File:Playmaker Saves The Blue Angel.png|thumb|Playmaker saves Blue Angel.]]
Yusaku later met up with [[Kal Kolter|Kolter]] and they discussed how both [[SOL Technologies]] and their enemies, the [[Knights of Hanoi]], were chasing after [[Ai|an A.I. program]] in [[LINK VRAINS]]. Upon learning that SOL Technologies had scheduled a full scan of Link VRAINS that evening to try and find the A.I., they quickly started working on a trap to catch the A.I. themselves. Although Yusaku successfully captured the reluctant A.I. in his Duel Disk, one of [[Number 10 (character)|the Knights of Hanoi]] threatened to destroy LINK VRAINS. Yusaku quickly entered LINK VRAINS as Playmaker and saved [[Skye Zaizen|Blue Angel]] from the Knight's "[[Cracking Dragon (anime)|Cracking Dragon]]". He then challenged the Knight to a Duel, putting the A.I. at stake. The A.I. voiced his doubts that Yusaku's Deck could beat "Cracking Dragon", then stirred up [[Data Storm]] in Link VRAINS, starting a [[Speed Duel (VRAINS)|Speed Duel]] between Yusaku and the Knight.<ref name="ep1" />
[[File:Knight of Hanoi laughs at Playmaker.png|thumb|left|Playmaker being overwhelmed by the Data Storm.]]
===Tower of Hanoi===
Playmaker and [[Ai]] watched an eclipse blocking the virtual sun in [[LINK VRAINS]]. Ai remembered people in the ancient past were scared of such events, and was surprised people, even today, were still afraid. Playmaker replied people remain the same, unlike technology that advances. The latter proclaimed the light was blocked by darkness, and confirmed to Ai he meant about the Lost Incident. He would not let the incident be buried in darkness, and would uncover the truth. Later, Yusaku was at school, and remembered how someone spoke to him during the Lost Incident project. [[Naoki Shima|Naoki]] called out to Yusaku, reminding him the class was over, and thought he was one of the "Athnoers". Yusaku walked away, and Naoki told him "Athnoers" were people trapped in LINK VRAINS, noting a lot of students haven't attended the school. He believed it was due to cursed [[Duel Disk]]s, which, at midnight, emit white hands that drag people into LINK VRAINS, leaving the people's bodies "hollow". He thought no person would return back to their old-selves, even if they were taken to the hospital. Ai thought this had relations to [[Skye Zaizen|Blue Angel]], but Yusaku shushed him, since Naoki could hear him. Naoki doubted Yusaku would become a victim, since they were usually people with promising Dueling future. Yusaku advised him to stay away from the Duel Disk and walked away from Naoki, who wished Playmaker would set things straight. Before leaving, Yusaku corrected him the term was "[[Deleted]]s", not "Athnoers", which made Naoki furious, since Yusaku knew everything already. Inside the van, [[Kal Kolter|Kolter]] showed Ai and Yusaku the footage of a camera, when a person turned into an Deleted, which happened six minutes before midnight. Ai noted there were no white hands taking the person into LINK VRAINS. Kolter told them the person had not recovered yet, and showed pictures of more Deleted patients in the hospitals. Ai and Yusaku knew this was the same accident with Blue Angel, who was infected by a virus.<ref name="ep22">{{episode|Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS|22|ref}}</ref>
Kolter believed someone wanted people to be turned into mindless people, but has not find out what happened to their LINK VRAINS' avatars. Kolter showed more data, and Yusaku analyzed all of the Deleted were great Duelists with old-type Duel Disks, and all of them were hackers, too. The trio realized Playmaker, or Ai, were the targets. Yusaku reminded the importance of uncovering the truth behind Lost Incident, and as noted by Ai, they had to stop people from becoming Deleted. Ai noted Yusaku was a cool hero of justice, even if the latter claimed that was unnecessary. Kolter showed a list of possible targets, from which the first was [[McKendrick Kellenbocker]]. Yusaku traced the person to his house, and saw lights at his window. Yusaku broke through into his room, and saw he became a victim. In addition, he and Ai watched McKendrick's avatar inside LINK VRAINS being confronted by [[Dr. Genome|a person]], who wished to know if he was Playmaker and had [[Ignis]]. Yusaku and Ai saw the person casted some glitter, causing McKendrick to fall asleep and fall off the cliff, but was saved by [[George Gore|the Gore]]. Playmaker watched as the Gore confronted the person, Dr. Genome, who placed the virus into McKendrick, only to draw Playmaker out. Yusaku came to the hospital, where he heard Gore swear to defeat Dr. Genome. Gore saw Yusaku and realized he was also concerned about McKendrick, who attended the same school. Yusaku gave his name to Gore, and left. At the van, Kolter and Yusaku watched the [[Knights of Hanoi]] Dueling people, and turning them into Deleted. Yusaku decided to go into LINK VRAINS, even if Kolter believed he would be at a disadvantage, and Ai wished to feel secure. Surprisingly, they saw "Playmaker" battling the Knights of Hanoi, by stopping their programs and tossing them away from their [[Duel Board]]s. Dr. Genome confronted "Playmaker", who revealed himself to be Gore. The latter stated he came to save McKendrick, and knew Playmaker's identity, which displeased Yusaku and Kolter. Yusaku did not know if Gore really knew his identity, but was still frustrated. The group watched as Dr. Genome activated the [[Data Gale]], conjuring black tornadoes for the [[Speed Duel]].<ref name="ep22"/>
