Ryoma absorbs the message in silence, his thoughts circling. From the Aramaki he knew in his previous life, he can still picture the misery that man once carried.
But the current Aramaki is different, only three fights in, still green. The question is, how much different?
"Ah, one more thing," Aki cuts into his thoughts. "He's only been training at home. Not at Kirizume, not even his old gym. Isn't that weird?"
That makes Nakahara stir. He steps down from the ring, his expression shadowed.
"And yet he's confident enough to tell my boxer to forfeit?"
Aki glances at him, startled by his tone. But there's no sarcasm in it, just a heavy unshaken seriousness.
"What do you think, kid?" Nakahara asks Ryoma. "Is he planning something dirty, without dragging Kirizume's name down? Or is it Kirizume himself, keeping his own hands clean?"
Ryoma exhales sharply. "I could imagine that with someone like Shunpei Oguchi. But Aramaki? He's not that kind of man."
