Are ya winning son?

In his enthusiasm, Julian, and even his mom, forgot that they were indeed, direct neighbors of the Hyoudou. Something that made for an awkward but hilarious sight for Julian when their two family came face to face, his mother stopping mid laught and his father wiping his depressed face in a flash to return to what was his 'I'm going to war' one.

The Hyoudou couple gaze met for a moment before they refocused it on Julian's family. Gorou starting a little unsure. "So, you were our neighbors all along?"

Meanwhile, Julian was just watching his parents make fool of themselves from the comfort of his mother's arms.

His father cleared his throat before replying in a serious tone, like it was a granted thing. "Well, it seem we just kind of forgot to tell you."

The atmosphere was quickly becoming heavy with awkwardness. Until Miki remarked Julian in Kassidy's arms. "Is that little Julian you told me so much about?"

"Ah, yes! Say hello to the Hyoudou Julian." His mother said, or rather requested of him.

In a cutesy voice because he could, he replied. "Hello to the Hyoudou."

His answer immediatly broke the ice by making both family laugh and Miki fawn on him.

His mother afterwards searched with her eyes for another person around the other couple, not finding anyone. She frowned a little in confusion and questioned. "Did you not bring Issei with you?"

Miki, widening her eyes a little in realization, just offered a small wry smile and answered. "Oh, of course we brought him, he's just not that used to be around strangers yet. Here, come out Issei. Come greet our neighbors and their son, he even is of the same age as you."

She then gently tugged at something behind her, bringing before her a little boy with brown hair and brown eyes. He would be totally ordinary if it was not because of the very faint aura of domination and tyranny around him that Julian could tell only he could feel.

"hi" he said with a little wave at them and a nervous expression. His gaze immediatly focusing on Julian, who was the only other child in the place.

His mother laid Julian on the ground while telling him to make friend with Issei. The group then immediately took off to the park.

While walking beside Issei and noticing the curious glances that he would send his ways occasionally. Julian himself took a good glance at the protagonist of this world. All Julian could see was a normal toddler who had currently no idea how wide the world truly was.

Sincerely, there was really not that much to do of interest with a two years old toddler. Main character or not. Nevertheless, Julian was not bothered by it, far from it. He was pretty confident he just got his first true friend right there and now besides Kass.

"Issei? Right? Want to see something cool?" He said with a grin at the clueless child beside him.

"Cool? Yeah! I want to see!" Yeah, It was pretty easy to get the attention of a normal two years old.

Searching briefly around the pavement for a peeble, he picked up a random one and presented it to Issei. "See this rock? I'm gonna cover it with my hands and blow on it for two seconds, then its going to disappear, no trick. You ready?"

The shota version of issei looked confused at first but got curious when he heard that he was going to make the rock disappear.

Julian stayed true to his promise and put the rock between his hands and blew on it for two seconds. Meanwhile using the power of destruction on the stone with the intent to make it disappear. The action taking approximately, who would've known, two seconds.

Julian then oppened his hands to show the void space which was previously occuped by the stone to Issei.

"Taddah! Cool right?" he boasted.

Issei tried to understand where the stone had gone to while gazing around them to see if Julian had not just thrown the stone out of his hands somehow before realizing that the stone was truly gone, thus widening his eyes in awe.

"Woah! How did you do that?"

"It's a secret." Julian replied uncaringly. He had successfully showed off to a two years old protagonist. He could now cross off one thing on his to do before dying a second time list. The next one would be slapping and beating Riser black and blue before clapping him on the back and giving him a cookie.

Bringing the children attention to her, Kassidy clapped her hands together and happily said. "We're here."

The ice broken between the two family, they contemplated the various free spots on the big sea of green grass and sparse trees that was the park, and picked a peacefull one beneath the shade of a three.

It was currently noon and a hot summer day, so the shade was much needed for both the adults and the children of the group.

While the adults were chatting and setting the picnic, Julian and Issei choose to go play with the other children of the park.

Julian wasn't bothered by the fact that he was playing with children, he was currently in the body of a toddler and had energy to spend. He was made aware of the fact that his body had certain instincts engraved in it that even his mature mind couldn't simply shrug off early on in the past two years.

In his first few months of life, he had the urge to cry when hungry, when he soiled his diapers and sometime even when it had been a time that he had not seen his parents.

It was not something he could just ignore, it was like if you were trying to keep your breath voluntarily until your death, or trying to not cough when your throat was just itching to, in other words, pretty much impossible.

These instincts went as far as him wanting to be in his parents presence and getting attention. The body would not obey the mind unconditionally, it was just how it was and it was the same for him, even being a super child did nothing against it.

It certainly helped with his willingness to play with children that he was winning literally every games he played. Dexterity games like making a stone ricochet the most times possible on the water of the little lake in the middle of the park, speed games like tag, Mind games like tic tac toe, not that it was that hard to win at that. Still, he was winning them all.

Of course it was pretty shameless for a supernatural kid to compete with normal ones. Did Julian cared though? Not at all, what was he supposed to do? Lower his speed to be lower than the other childs so they could have a chance to win win? In fact, it was exactly what he did. Right now, Julian could run four time as fast as the fastest kid his age could. So he just used the same speed as Issei and used footwork to be untouchable to other kids.

Young children were simple, be the best at the games they were playing and a bit friendly and you would become their best friends. Julian didn't mind this fact because these toddlers would probably go to the same school as him growing up and it wouldn't hurt to know more people. So he just kept being friendly and showed them some of his 'magic tricks'.

Julian was surprised at how natural being amicable came to him. But it didn't took him much pondering to realize why it was so. In could be all explained in one word, confidence.

Indeed, maybe confidence could be something innate. Nevertheless, it was something that was majorly gradually built, one block at at time.

It was also the case for him. even in his previous life, he was pretty sure of himself. One cause of it was being praised for his genius at a young age by everyone around him. Even when he had met the first hurdle and wall of his life, instead of being put down even slightly by it, he rather got motivated by it to achieve a higher goal. Goal that he had achieved despite not knowing if he was doing the right thing. But in the end, he was proven to be right from the start by life itself, his goal being achieved saving humanity and helping plenty of people with their lives.

Passing from fact that he met a true, maybe all powerful god and made friend with it. To being rewarded for his past life good deeds and being granted kinda ultimate wishes. It was evident how these things could boost your ego significantly. Even more with him now being reincarnated in a world where he was familiar with its characters and its setting.

With this, he had the impressions he knew more of the true world than its inhabitants, not believing to be better than them for it. But just unconsciously comparing them to a frog in a well. Even if he didn't meant to, it was kinda true in a sense.

Now he knew why reincarnators were always so full of themselves or confidents, because they actively or inactively thought they were better than the residents of the worlds they visited, or because they were comparing them to children with a narrow view of the world.

After all, reincarnators, transmigrators or whatever had seen what was behind death and came back from it. They knew the futur, past and destiny of the world they were visiting. If it didn't made them something akin to gods in these worlds, then what would? Concrete power? It was something every one of them could obtain if they played their cards right, depending on the worlds they found themselves in. Not even mentioning the golden finger or fingers they were almost always receiving at the start.

Being someone from another world gave them a sort of third person perspective that was a powerful tool for goods or evil, or whatever you wanted to do. Hence the confidence they always had or came to have, himself included.

But Julian could not help but ask himself. In this world of infinite possibility where fictional worlds were existing in countless itérations. What were the limits of what did indeed exist, and what did not? Could it be that everything one could think off, and everything one could not think off, was real, and existed in the same sense that he, himself, exist?

If it was so. Then what about him? Was there a, or even countless itérations of his own story being written and read about right now?

"-an... Julian-San are you okay?" Issei voiced out concernedly after seeing Julian just standing there, eyes closed and pondering about something for a long time.

Julian almost jumped out of his skin at Issei's voice as he was so deep in thoughts, It was a shame, he had the impression that he was on the verge of grasping something right there, or was he?

Remarking that the other children had long since wandered all over the place and were not assembled around him anymore, he turned himself toward Issei and replied.

"Yeah, it's nothing, don't worry."

"Oh, okay then. Mom and dad and aunty and uncle said to me to tell you that they finished to setting up the picnic."

"Ah, is that so? I'm coming then."

Issei nodded and together they made their way to the place their respective parents were waiting for them.

Meanwhile, Julian was still pondering about his previous thoughts, but just let a small smile settle on his face in the end. Not even himself knowing of his smile's real purpose.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elsewhere, a certain goddess was resting on her real throne with her eyes closed and with a small smile of satisfaction plastered on her face.

"Good, it seem you'll be able to repay your favor earlier than I thought, Julian." She muttered to nobody in particular.