A notice: this story will involve some social media and its reactions. It's hard to make up usernames without wondering if someone already has it and will get offended. Can you guys tell me if you're okay with having your usernames used in the in-universe comments sections? Please know that this means you consent to your username being used in any kind of comment, either positive or negative. I understand if you don't want to.

Now then, on with the story!

(Picture: Katsuki Claims Silver At 2015-2016 Japanese Nationals)

At 23, Japanese ladies' singles skater Yūri Katsuki is a late bloomer.

Katsuki rose to the Senior division at 18 with only a handful of Junior medals to her name. Her senior career was marked with little success until the 2014-2015 season, when she took bronze at Japanese Nationals and later gold at the Four Continents Championship. Katsuki made her Grand Prix Final debut this season when she was invited to the NHK Trophy, where she placed first.

(Picture: Katsuki and the Shibutanis standing with NHK mascot "Domo" at the NHK Gala Exhibition)

This allowed her to advance to the Rostelecom Cup, where she won a spot in the 2015 Grand Prix Final.

Katsuki is a skater known for her spin and step sequences as well as speed and musicality. While the skater has admitted she isn't always consistent on her jumps, she was able to claim a spot on the podium at her first Grand Prix Final.

Most figure skaters tend to tire in their early twenties. Skater Katsuki only seems to be getting started.

Comments:

yuri-is-an-angel • [1 hour]

Look at her. Would you believe that this beauty is 23?

yurin-luck • [58 min]

yuri-is-an-angel I know right! She looks like a high school student!

marichat4ever • [57 min]

yuri-is-an-angel yurin-luck She's Asian. They're known for looking younger than they really are.

danceonice • [40 min]

Sometimes I look at her footwork and imagine if she might be as phenomenal as an ice dancer.

katsu-damn girl • [38 min]

She is the skating queen~young and sweet~looks like 17~

Sapporo, Japan

Yūri swiped past various social media articles, stopping when she found one with a thumbnail of her on the podium. "'Late bloomer'...'little success"..." she read. "Inconsistent jumper..."

The last part wasn't the exact wording, but that's what it came to anyway. The article was a positive one that praised her success, but Yūri was more focused on the cleverly hidden jabs that seemed to mock her for only just rising from the depths.

"Speed and musicality..." Yūri noticed that the article kindly failed to mention her lack of control over her speed, which was why she couldn't land her jumps properly. She would get all the rotations but the landings were shaky at best, over-rotated or failed completely on a bad day. Yūri blamed He Long for her new speed problems.

At least the speed helped her attempt a quad in Detroit. The look on Celestino's face when she tried was priceless.

"Yūri." A hand forcibly locked her phone, making the young woman look up to her coach. "Looking at the news always does more harm than good to you."

Celestino was right. Yūri did tend to lose her nerve whenever she read anything that was about her. Whenever she came across an article, she would initially scroll past it but curiosity led her back. She would always hunt for the bad parts that attacked her, no matter what kind of article it was. That was one of the reasons she didn't use social media as often as Phichit. Then again, Celestino also had a part in it so that she could focus more on her skating and less on opinions.

Yūri was thankful for that.

She hoped that they would be able to make it out the doors without event, but Morooka found them. "Katsuki-san!"

"Hi, Morooka." Yūri never understood why Morooka was interested in her. Katsuki Yūri: dime-a-dozen ladies' singles skater certified by Japan. There were other skaters in her division who would be worth Morooka's time—stronger jumpers, too, not an inconsistent mess like her. Most of them were younger and already at the top. Why did Morooka want anything to do with a late bloomer?

"Katsuki-san, before last year, you never had a string of victories," the announcer said. "What exactly changed that led to your sudden success?"

"Well, my coach focused on my speed and endurance." That was only half the reason. In reality, Yūri had no idea how she went from mediocre to rising star when the best she'd ever placed in her senior career was fourth—unless one counted the sparse bronze medals she had.

But Yūri had the sneaking suspicion that He Long had something to with her new victories. After the end of the 2013-2014 season, she had met the Chinese fashion design student during the summer. Back then, he was just a classmate with a portfolio filled with fantastic designs and a pair of roller blades that he used to get around. (They disappeared one day and suddenly she saw him riding a bike.) He'd offered to design her costumes for the upcoming season for a fee—they were college students, after all. They had to get by somehow.

Then everything changed. People thought she could become the new queen of the figure skating world, but Yūri knew she was a fraud. Nothing had changed about her—she was the same as ever. The only difference was that she was wearing more beautiful costumes, designed by Yuan He Long to have all eyes on her.

Sooner or later, someone had to come to the same conclusion. If she did, then others were bound to follow. Once the spell of awe wore off, people would soon realize that she was just an average skater playing dress-up.

"Katsuki-san? Katsuki-san!"

"Yūri!" Celestino yelled.

Yūri snapped out of her reverie to see a boy with dirty blonde hair and a loose streak of red. He looked at her worriedly—Yūri must have been lost in her head longer than she thought. "I'm sorry...who are you?"

The teen straightened up proudly with a wide smile. "Minami Kenjirō! I placed third in the men's competition!"

"Minami-kun is a Junior, but he's planning to make his senior debut next season," Morooka explained. "Do you have any advice for him?"

Advice? Plan your jumps for the second half; add a new jump to your roster—every coach gave their skaters advice on how to catapult their scores. What advice could she give that Kenjirō hadn't already heard from others?

"Before that..." Kenjirō bowed as he held out a marker and a notepad to her. "Can I have your autograph!" Visibly taken back, Yūri took the marker and wrote out the characters of her name.

Born to win...Katsuki.

Yūri...the name was usually written with the characters for lily, but her parents gave her her name with courage and victory in mind.

"Your costumes are super pretty!" Kenjirō gushed as Yūri handed back the notepad. "But aren't they expensive?"

"Oh! No, they're really not," Yūri admitted. At least, not for her, when she was dating the man who made them. "They're not too expensive—my boyfriend makes them."

"Your boyfriend?!" Kenjirō jolted back in surprise, eyes suddenly pooling with tears. He bounced back, but the sad puppy-eyes remained. "Are you happy with him?"

"Y-yes."

"Does he treat you well?!"

"He Long's very kind."

"Okay," Kenjirō conceded. "But if he's ever mean to you, can I beat him up?" he added eagerly.

"What?" Yūri squeaked. Morooka and Celestino chuckled at the Junior skater's words, clearly amused by the supposed threat.

"I'll really do it!" Kenjirō declared, holding up a fist. "I took karate lessons a while back!"

"Um...please don't," Yūri insisted, lowering the younger skater's fist. "Really, I don't want you to be banned from skating for fighting!"

"...Fine," he huffed. "Then...will you ask him if he can make my costumes, too?"

Yūri knew that it didn't matter if she asked. He Long was always happy to design and earn money from his handmade costumes. Anything to keep them from remaining drawings of a dream that never was. "I think he would be happy to."

There were times when she liked to think of Yuan He Long as a wizard who placed spells on his designs. Spells that promised glamour and victory to the person who wore them. But all spells had to break at some point, didn't they?

So as long as the magic of He Long's costumes was still in effect, Yūri hoped that it would take Kenjirō where he wanted.

Just like it did for her.