The ticket was situated on the little table next to Kouchi's bed and seemed to be staring at him in a demanding way. He breathed in deeply, as if to prepare himself, and reached for that damned piece of paper.
The ticket, the card, the lottery ticket. It had many names, but none made it any more desirable to him. He had always known that this day would come, known that when he would be of age it would just around the corner, but it was still not something that he had been waiting for.
Quite on the contrary. Kouchi had dreaded this day, ever since he had learned about it and he had been wondering if there was anyway to avoid it without being cast out. In his years of polishing a potential plan of freeing himself of this fate, that awaited every single person in the country, he had come to the conclusion that there wasn't a easy, risk free way out of it.
The ticket in hand he moved towards his desk to fill in the information the government was asking for in order for them to pick out the perfect partner for him from the pool of people who had turned of age this year. He found it tad bit funny to have to write up the info, as if the government didn't already know most of this about him. But it was for traditions sake apparently.
- - -
Taiga had been looking forward to this day his whole life. He wasn't the most social or outgoing person and that's why he found that this was rather perfect way for him to find his future partner. Besides the government was going to take everything about them into their calculations and that way find a someone perfect for him. Also it was a tradition. And his family was big on traditions.
His family was on the richer side of the families in the country and thus his parents where hoping that the partner that was going to be picked for their son was going to be a person of the same status, or at least close to them in the hierarchy ranks.
What they didn't know was that Taiga had hopes that the government would pick him a person of rather different kind of status than what they wished for their only son. Because even if Taiga was ready to do what the country asked of him, to be with the one they chose for him, he secretly hoped that the person they select for him would be a certain someone that he had had feelings for since high school.
* **