Chapter 10: Are you good at that?- Yes, I'm a pro at this sport.- Yeah? Do you play other sports?- Yeah, I play every sports and I'm a pro at them too.- Uh?
"Ready, set, hajime!" A clap resounded in the air as a crowd of children that were around twelve years old was assembled together to watch as two youngsters the same age as them were facing each other on an arena made of mattresses.
One of the two kids was Julian, while his opponent was the second best of the class, obviously meaning that it couldn't possibly be Issei...
Barely had his coach of Judo clapped that Julian rapidly grabbed the other boy right sleeve with his left hand and with his right grabbed the kimono of the boy at the torso level.
His opponent afterward did the same and tried to destabilise him by taking a step forwards with his right foot and pushing on Julian's shoulders so that he could chain up with a technique.
By doing so, he got out of his solid stance and offered an opportunity to Julian that he gladly took.
At the price of his stability, Julian used the forward momentum of the other kid to glue himself to him and lifted his hold on the boy kimono upwards while at the same time placing his right foot on the inside of his thigh. He afterwards, in a lightning fast and fluid movement, let himself fall backward butt first to the ground but still keeping his upwards grip on his adversary to use his body weight, his momentum and the foot that he put inside his opponent thigh to throw the other child over him.
*BAM*
Rolling with the movement, Julian got himself directly over his rival and proceeded to put his disoriented enemy in an arm lock, in case his opponent hadn't touched the ground with his two shoulders.
"Ippon! 100 points for Julian! It was a great match you two, good job. As it was the final match of our little tournament, you're all free to go besides Julian, I would like to have a word with you."
With that, every kids dispersed happily in click, chatting about the match with their friends.
Julian brought the other child up on his feet and gave him a smile while thanking him for the good fight. Afterward making a peace sign to Issei who was waiting for him to finish his talk with their coach outside the arena. He made his way before his eager looking coach.
"It was really a masterfully done sumi-gaeshi (when he threw his opponent above him) that you did there Julian. You are a born Judo practitioner, have you ever thought about going professional or do competitive Judo? Because I seriously think that your potential in this area is limitless."
Julian shook his head and answered. "I'm sorry coach, but I already have something I want to do in the future that doesn't correlate well with sports and martial arts."
His coach put on a seriously disapointed expression and bitterly said. "Well, that's a true shame, but if you ever change your mind, my offer still stand." The coach then left while shaking his head and sourly muttering "such a pitty" in his beard.
Meanwhile, Julian only had one thought in his head seeing this display, and it was to say that if his coach wanted him to go professional in judo, then he had to wait in line along with his coach of Karate, Kung fu, Taekwondo, and every other martial arts Julian was doing really. Of course, Julian wouldn't say that to any of his coachs as it would just be mean and he wasn't a mean person and an arrogant asshole.
Getting back to Issei's side, he gratefully took the water bottle and towel that he was offering him and they both got out of the Judo center. Since it was pretty close to their home, they just decided to walk the distance.
"So, what did the coach say to you?" Issei asked.
"He asked me if I was interested in going professional, I of course said no." Julian answered uncaringly.
Issei chuckled. "Man, another one? How many does that make now? I think I lost count after the the boxing one... You know, maybe you should really consider going professional, I heard my dad curse about athlete salary once, ranting about how much they got was illogical."
Julian yawned, not out of tiredness, just because he liked how his yawn could mysteriously affect the surrounding atmosphere, giving it a sluggish and comfortable attribute. "Nah, I'm not after the money. And you know how I'm more of a thinking than a physical type of guy."
"Yeah, I know. Why choose a job that you don't like rather than something that you like when you have the capability for both. You can do whatever you want in the future, it's plenty compared to other people, at least compared to me." Issei muttered a little down.
This change of mood in his friend made Julian gain a serious expression. "Dude, we already talked about that plenty of times. Don't compare yourself to me, I'm far from what you can call normal, you know it, I know it, everybody that know me a little know it." He afterward threw his right arm around Issei shoulder and grinned.
"Plus, didn't our karate and boxing coach made you a similar offer to mine? You may be of average or even mediocre talent in physical and mental aspect, but your will, tenacity and determination are league above mine. These traits of character of yours are also a form of talent you know. And if you still want to compare yourself to other, then you are still far better than kids our ages in the majority of things, just because you work hard for it. Finally, you're friend with me, and THAT count for something." Julian added with a solemn voice.
Issei scowled and removed his arm around his shoulder, but his scowl just devolved into a slight smile and a sigh. "Damn, I thought you would stay serious until the end this time."
He afterward dipped his head a little and rubbed it. "Sorry about that, I try to remember but it's not easy to not compare myself to you when everyone at school constantly quip and gossip about why I hang out with you, the "little prince of kuoh". While other people tried to do the same and failed to stick."
Julia stayed silent at that, he knew that the little sheeps that were his schoolmates were doing that, thinking they knew best who he should hang out with. Not even pondering that having such a behavior was exactly why he wasn't making friends with them.
Julian was absolutely not against truly making friends with people he didn't knew from the plot. It was just that people who weren't in it tended to be ordinary, and ordinary people entertains ordinary thoughts. They thus weren't trying to befriend Julian, but the "little prince of kuoh". It was his previous life all over again. The thing was that this time, he wasn't giving a fuck about it.
Indeed, he didn't care about how many friends he had, he just care about if they were true ones. As for these genuine friends, he already had Issei and Irina, even if she wasn't there right now. As long as he had them, he was satisfied.
Speaking of the devil, Issei spoke again after a moment. "If Irina was there, he would know what to say and then say something like, "If you're worrying about how you appear in the eyes of the people around you, then just think about how you appear in the eyes of the person that love you the most!" Or something."
Both of them chuckled a little at Issei perfectly accurate imitation of Irina. Then a a comfortable silence followed. Julian breaking it after a moment. "You miss her uh?"
"Her?" Issei confusedly repeated.
"Him! Errrr, my tongue slipped, I wanted to say that you miss 'him'." Julian sweatdropped.
Issei just shrugged it off and asked him. "Why wouldn't I miss him? Don't you miss him too?"
Julian answered neutraly. "Yes, but its been 3 years already. I already came to term with it. Additionally, I don't believe in definitive farewell if I and the person that is leaving are still alive after it."
Issei sent him a weirded out glance, stating simply. "That's a weird belief."
Gaining a smug look on his face, Julian explained. "No, it's just logical. As long as us and Irina are still of this world and we keep the want and conviction to see him again. Then one day, we'll set out to go meet him with our own mean. The icing on the cake is that this belief can be aplied to every similar situation. Who's the weird one again?"
After his little explanation, Issei ignored his last comment and gained a determined expression. "You're right, if adult things separate us. Then when we'll become adult, we'll go visit him ourself!" Making up his mind, Issei didn't even took time to think about the matter of if they'll still want to see Irina after all these years.
Julian just nodded at Issei while thinking about the last time him and Issei were invited by Irina to sleep at her house. As Issei was always with him when they went to her house to sleep over in the past. He knew that Irina had never made any move to even get into the room they were sleeping in each time they slept over.
How did he know? Well, even when asleep, he retained a certain awareness of his surrounding. Julian didn't know if it was something every supernatural species had or something only he would have for some reason, but anyway, it was something to research on for his future self.
So, according to canon, that night was supposed to be the night when Irina would kiss Issei when he was asleep. And she indeed came to their room that night, but she didn't go toward Issei's sleeping place as the 'plot' would dictate. She came to his bed side, but then. Something that made even Julian surprised, because Irina... hesitated. It was surprising for him because in all the seven years he had known her, he never saw her hesitate even once for anything.
In the end, she just stayed a few moments at his bedside, and left.
Julian had never intended Irina to be an experiment or whatever of the sort to see what was and what wasn't considered to be part of the plot exactly. Julian just went with the flow and this change happened. He wouldn't have cared either way if she had still kissed Issei or not. Because it didn't matter to him, he himself had wished for the plot, and as it was his wish, the plot was his bitch. That's how it work, right? Well, that's how it worked in his mind at least.
But all in all, this event allowed him to be made aware that what was considered part of the 'plot' was more subtil than he previously thought.
Julian was brought out of his memories by the familiar sight of his home.
Julian slapped Issei back and entered his home while saying his parting words. "Chow, see you for our first day of middle school tomorow."
Issei growned and entered his own house while muttering. "Urgh, don't remind me."
Julian, picking it up because of his senses, smirked in amusement. After removing his Judo's clothes, he put them in the dirty clothes basket in the laundry room and made his way to his room.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
No_Existence
No_Existence Yo, this chapter is a pretty big change from the last one no? Am I the only one thinking that this one is a lot better? More dialogs, more exposition of the mc's life and even the first 'fight" scene. As always, say your thoughts in the comment and leave a like on the video. Oh wait. Wrong platform, sorry.
ps: I know next to nothing about Judo, so don't shit on me too much if you are a judo masta, okay?
pss:I'll edit tomorow, I think it's becoming the norm nowadays.
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