(It would not, but sure, Damien. Feel free to think that. He might not see it coming perse, but he's alert - almost triggered by the hostile demeanor. He may not see it coming, but sure as hell he wouldn't be at all surprised if it did.

The use of the other's first name makes Ren frown just a tad bit. Akechi did tell Ren not to use his first name in front of others, after all. How close are these two?

But then again. It makes sense that the anger is being directed at him, knowing what Damien knows and missing the key personality points that make it so easy for Ren to simply move on from their past, regardless of all the complications surrounding it.)

Mementos materialized a cognition of him keen on killing me. I fought it but it barely took damage and it nearly succeeded when Akechi found us and it shot him before either of us could do anything.

(And trust us here, Ren's Persona is extremely powerful - it barely scratched the Cognition. He tried his very best.)