Kirizume's smirk fades into something more controlled, less openly amused and more carefully measured, as the memory of that 2015 meeting settles back into place.
He does not deny what Ryoma has become; it is visible enough that pretending otherwise would be pointless. What bothers him is the ease with which Ryoma now speaks from that position, and the manners in it.
"So a mere year of success in this business," Kirizume says at last, his tone dry but edged, "and you think you can already humiliate me? Even going so far as to tell me how I should manage my champion?"
Those words pull a memory back into Ryoma's mind, the day he asked Nakahara to do exactly that, suggesting Kirizume push his champion, Leonardo Serrano, toward relinquishing the belt.
It had come from genuine intent at the time, but he lets it pass now with a small shrug, brushing it aside as he refocuses on the unresolved tension between them from the past.
