"I need to change the order," Ren announced after studying Team Twelve's composition with careful attention to details most people would miss.
Roran's team was strong, very strong compared to typical fifth-year groupings. Four beasts at Silver 2 or higher rank, six at the boundary between high Bronze and low Silver.
And among the four high-rank beasts was Roran himself at Silver 3, a rank above most competitors.
"Ron, this time you'll go fourth instead of first," Ren instructed while mentally calculating probability matrices. "Trevor, sixth position. Iris, third."
He reorganized the order based on what he anticipated Roran would do given his personality and strategic tendencies.
Because he knew Roran intimately from years of training together. Understood roughly how he thought strategically, how he approached problems. Knew that Roran would use his strongest beast, the Giant Troll Dog, near the beginning to break the opposing team's momentum before it could build.
