Your Name

Chapter 1

Do you know what a soulmate is?

A soulmate is defined as "a person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner." In this world, its easy to find your one true partner. Your other half. Your soulmate.

For every pair of soulmates, when the youngest of the two turns eighteen years old, the name of their meant-to-be-partner appears on their hand. On the night just before you turn eighteen, it is tradition to have an enormous party with your family and friends. At midnight, the name of your soulmate is revealed.

Even though midnight is not the exact time you are born, it still appears at that time on your birthday.

But that last part isn't always the case. If you are the older of the pair, the name will not appear until the other turns eighteen. So it's even more of a wait for those since they have no idea how much younger their soul mate is than they are.

I happen to be one of those. The older soulmate. My name is Viktor Nikiforov and I'm a twenty-two-year-old Russian figure skater. I have always been really good at skating ever since I was really young. I have definitely had my rough times. I have lost competitions just as every skater has. But since I have gotten better at it, I've been winning every skating competition I enter. Now I don't mean to brag or anything, but its true.

I actually want something more exciting. Something challenging. And I want to find something or someone to love.

I just have to wait for the day the name appears on my hand. But I feel like the day will never come. And every night after midnight, once again my hand is as clear as it has been for the past twenty-two years. And I wonder to myself, "How much longer?"

What Viktor didn't know was that his wish was finally about to come true. Because Yuuri Katsuki was about to turn eighteen years old that night. Yuuri Katsuki, Viktor's soulmate.

"Yuuri!" My mother called for me. "People will be arriving soon so hurry up!"

I'm Yuuri Katsuki, a seventeen-year-old Japanese figure skater. I have always loved skating ever since I was very young. I spent a majority of my childhood at Ice Castle, an ice skating rink in my hometown. My ballet teacher, Minako, was the one who recommended me to learn figure skating. Ever since then, I have always looked up to Viktor Nikiforov, a very famous and well-known figure skating legend.

Anyways, tomorrow is the day I turn eighteen. If I am the younger, I find out who my soulmate is today. Its scary not knowing if I find out today, or if I have to wait for who knows how much longer.

I rush downstairs, not wanting to hear my mother yell at me again, and meet her in the kitchen. My sister, Mari, is helping my mother prepare for tonight.

Mari spots me from the corner of her eye while cutting up some vegetables. "About time." She says sarcastically, then stops cutting and turns towards me. "Nervous?" She questions with a more sympathetic feel in her voice.

Mari is twenty-five now. She is older than her soulmate, a guy who turned eighteen a couple of years after her. She moved in with him a year and a half after that, but came back home for my eighteenth birthday.

"Just a little." I say. In reaility, though, I am way more nervous than how I'm trying to seem.

She gives me a bit of a worried look but it dissapears as soon as my mother tells her that the guests will be arriving soon and she needs to finish what she was working on before she stopped to talk to me.

Before continuing though, Mari lays her hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about it." She gives a small and reassuring smile, then turns back to the cutting board.

Everything will be just fine, is what I think to myself. But in the back of my mind I still can't help but be somewhat worried. I know its my soulmate, so this person will obviously be idealy suited to me. So why is it that I'm so nervous to find out? Well, I guess everyone is nervous when their day arrives.

As the day continues on, my family members and friends come to our house to celebrate my coming of age. It nears midnight now, being 11:50 pm. I stare at my hand, anxiously waiting for midnight to arrive.

"You know..." Mari approaches me. "Staring at it won't make it come any faster." She said, smiling.

"I know that." I say, kind of irritated.

After that, it seemed as if the next ten minutes took 10 hours. At long last, its 11:59 and everyone who came to celebrate gathers around me.

Midnight strikes and I'm the first to see it. I was nervous, so the name was a blur at first. But then I rubbed my eyes and looked more closely at it again.

"That's..." I'm astonished and cannot say much.

"Viktor Nikiforov." Mari says, and everyone who knows who he is seems to be at a loss for words.

At that time, back in Russia, Viktor noticed his hand finally had a name on it.

"Yuuri Katsuki, huh?" I say to myself. "Well," I kiss the name on my hand and smile. "Happy birthday, Yuuri... whoever you are..."