heading back into Rikkai manga matches

Interesting that Yanagi's tactic for surprise revolves around showing difference from their past while Inui's revolves around sameness.

And, yet, the fact that Inui seeks to repeat the last match is precisely what allows him to then move on from it. We might say he's obssessed, not with the past, but with moving the past into the future.

Yanagi, on the other hand, may still be unable to imagine that past moving or changing. One interpretation for his repeated emphasis on how much things have changed is that the last match is, in fact, a primary concern for him. The parallel interpretation for his insistence that he will not show his ex-partner mercy is that he is overcompensating for a guilty conscience.

Not, it bears noting, that Inui is in any way less sneaky or underhanded or willing to use headgames.