Ren answers with a nod, then an exaggerated shrug. Either he has confidence, or he has skill at pretending to have confidence. Sometimes the line diving the two is blurred and even Ren himself isn’t sure which of those wells he taps into. Either way, he’s pretty sure it doesn’t matter, as long as the result is the same.

“Morgana taught me everything he knows.”

He then goes quiet for a moment, slowly swaying a bit as he idly adjusts his weight from one side to the other. Maybe, he thinks, he just can’t tell the difference between rivalry and friendship, because they look more or less the same to him when they’re not. Ren’s no expert on the subject, after all. And maybe that’s all Akechi wants from him, maybe that’s all he’s ever wanted from him, and maybe Ren simply read the signals wrong all along.

If all Akechi wants from Ren is a rival, Ren decides he will just need to learn to live with that.

Now, the only question is how.

Keeping at the banter seems like a good place to start.

“I’d be a pretty terrible rival if I gave you such an easy win.”