Week 1 - Template Unlock: 2%
Ippo stared at the floating blue interface in his room, rubbing his eyes for the hundredth time that morning.
"This is really happening, isn't it?" he whispered to the stats display hovering in front of him. "I'm not having some kind of mental breakdown?"
[TEMPLATE PROGRESSION DETECTED][UNLOCK PERCENTAGE: 2%][NEW MEMORIES AVAILABLE]
"Memories?" Ippo blinked, and suddenly his head felt like someone had shoved a movie reel into his brain.
Flash.
A young boy with serious eyes running through empty streets at dawn, his breath forming clouds in the cold air. Six miles every morning before anyone else was awake.
"What the hell was that?" Ippo stumbled backward, his heart racing.
The memory felt so real, so vivid—like he'd actually been there running those streets himself. But the boy in the memory wasn't him. It was someone else. Someone who looked determined in a way Ippo had never felt.
[TAKEDA YUTO'S MEMORIES UNLOCKING][TRAINING REGIMEN ACCESSED]
More images flashed through his mind. The same boy doing endless sets of sit-ups, sweat pouring down his face but never stopping. Push-ups until his arms shook like leaves. Jump rope sessions that went on for hours.
"Two thousand sit-ups," Ippo gasped, clutching his head. "One thousand push-ups. Every single day."
He looked down at Takamura's training plan—a modest list of exercises that suddenly seemed laughably easy compared to what this Yuto kid had been doing.
"Who... who are you?" Ippo asked the empty air.
----
The second week the memories were getting stronger, but what really got to Ippo was how they changed his perspective on everything.
He was helping his mom load the morning catch when another flash hit him.
A man with kind eyes and calloused hands, kneeling down to a young boy's level.
"Yuto, listen to me carefully. Strength isn't about how hard you can hit or how much pain you can take. Someone who has the courage to treat others with warmth—that's what really makes them strong. Become someone strong, Yuto. Not for revenge, not for pride. For the people who need protecting."
The memory shifted. The same man in a police uniform, helping an elderly woman carry her groceries. Then stopping to talk to a lost child, his voice gentle and reassuring.
"Dad's a hero," young Yuto thought, watching with shining eyes. "A real hero of justice."
Ippo's hands stilled on the fish crate.
"His father was a police officer," he whispered. "A hero in Yuto's eyes."
"Ippo? You okay, honey?" his mom asked, noticing he'd stopped working.
Instead of his usual mumbled response, Ippo looked at her really looked at her. She was working so hard, had been working so hard for years, carrying the burden of their family business mostly alone.
"Mom, let me carry that," he said, gently taking a heavy cooler from her hands. "You shouldn't be lifting the heavy stuff."
She blinked in surprise. Ippo had always helped, but there was something different in his voice now. More confident, more caring.
"Thank you, sweetheart."
At school that day, Ippo found himself noticing things he'd never paid attention to before. A classmate struggling with math homework. Another student eating lunch alone. Small acts of kindness he could perform, just like Yuto's father had done.
"Being strong means protecting others," he murmured, remembering the police officer's words.
---
The third week the next set of memories hit harder than any punch.
Ippo was halfway through his evening workout when the vision slammed into him.
A frail woman lying in bed, her breathing shallow and labored. She'd been like this for years—weak, bedridden, dependent on her young son for everything.
"I'm sorry, Yuto," she whispered, tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't apologize, Mom. I love you. Dad and I will always take care of you."
But then the worst memory came—Yuto's father, still in his police uniform, stumbling through a alley with a stab wound in his chest. He'd tried to stop some thugs from mugging an elderly man, but there had been too many of them.
"Take care of Yuto for me," he gasped with his dying breath over the phone as he spoke to his childhood friend who was Yutos Coach. "And tell him remember what I taught him about strength. Protect those who can't protect themselves."
Young Yuto, only twelve years old, heard his hero father die while his coach wept helplessly in the background.
Ippo stopped mid-sit-up, gasping for air that wasn't there.
"His father died protecting someone," he choked out. "Stabbed by thugs while trying to help a stranger. And his mom... she was already sick, already dying."
The memory continued, showing Yuto taking care of his bedridden mother alone, cooking, cleaning, working part-time jobs, all while maintaining his impossible training schedule.
"I have to be strong enough for both of us now," young Yuto thought, doing push-ups beside his mother's bed so she wouldn't feel alone.
Ippo sat on his bedroom floor, overwhelmed by grief and admiration that burned in his chest.
"That's why he trained so hard," he whispered. "Six miles every morning, thousands of exercises every day. He was trying to become strong enough to protect everyone his father couldn't save."
The next day at school, when he saw Umezawa about to pick on a smaller student, Ippo didn't hesitate.
"Hey," he said calmly, stepping between them. "Leave him alone."
Umezawa looked shocked. There was something different in Ippo's eyes—not anger, but unwavering resolve.
"What's it to you, fish boy?"
"Someone once told me that real strength means protecting people who can't protect themselves," Ippo replied, his voice steady. "So I'm asking you nicely. Walk away."
Something in his tone made Umezawa scowl and back down. After they left, the smaller student looked up at Ippo with grateful eyes.
"Thank you."
Ippo smiled—the same kind, gentle smile he'd seen in Yuto's memories of his father.
"Don't mention it."
Week 4 - Template Unlock: 10%
More memories trickled in, showing Ippo the full scope of Yuto's dedication.
Yuto's mother growing weaker each day, her frail body finally giving up after years of illness. Young Yuto holding her hand as she passed away, now truly alone in the world at age thirteen.
But instead of breaking down, Yuto had doubled his training. Six miles every morning at 5 AM. Two thousand sit-ups. One thousand push-ups. Three thousand jump rope rotations. Heavy bag work until his hands bled.
"I'll become strong enough to protect everyone Dad couldn't save," he vowed at his parents' graves. "I'll be the hero he wanted me to be."
The comparison was overwhelming, but it pushed Ippo to make a decision.
He threw away Takamura's modest training plan and started following Yuto's insane regimen instead.
Six miles before dawn, his legs screaming in protest.
Two thousand sit-ups, his abs cramping after the first hundred.
One thousand push-ups that left him collapsed on his bedroom floor.
"I'm not a genius like the other boxers will be," Ippo panted after his first attempt at Yuto's routine. "But I can work harder than them. I can suffer more than them. Just like Yuto did."
The interface flickered with new information.
[YUTO'S TRAINING DATA ACCESSED][DAILY REGIMEN: 6-MILE RUN, 2000 SIT-UPS, 1000 PUSH-UPS, 3000 JUMP ROPE ROTATIONS, HEAVY BAG WORK, SPEED BAG, SHADOWBOXING]
[DURATION: EVERY DAY FOR 8 YEARS][TALENT LEVEL: MINIMAL][RESULTS: EXCEPTIONAL THROUGH PURE EFFORT]
"Zero talent," Ippo read aloud, his voice determined. "He had no natural ability at all. But he never gave up. He kept training because that's what heroes do."
His mom found him the next morning, passed out on the kitchen floor after trying to do two thousand sit-ups.
"Ippo! What's gotten into you? This is dangerous!"
"I'm fine, Mom," he gasped, struggling to sit up. "I just... I need to get stronger. Strong enough to protect people."
She helped him to a chair, worry creasing her features. "You're pushing yourself too hard, sweetheart."
"Not hard enough," Ippo replied, thinking of Yuto training beside his dying mother's bed. "I have so much more than he ever did. I can't waste it."
Month's End - Template Unlock: 10%
Ippo met Takamura at the bridge, and the older boxer immediately noticed the change.
"Holy shit, kid. You look like you've been through a war. But also... stronger somehow?"
And he was. Following Yuto's brutal regimen had transformed his body completely. His shoulders were broad, his core was tougher, and his legs had the definition of someone who ran marathons daily.
"I followed a different program," Ippo said, handing over a training log. "Someone else's routine."
Takamura flipped through the notebook, his eyes widening. "Six miles every day? Two thousand sit-ups? One thousand push-ups? Kid, this is insane! I gave you a beginner's program for a reason!"
"It wasn't enough," Ippo replied simply. "I learned about someone who trained like this every day for eight years. If he could do it with no talent and no support, I can do it with the advantages I have."
The truth was, after seeing Yuto's impossible dedication while caring for his dying mother and honoring his heroic father's memory, Takamura's program had felt like giving up before he'd even started.
"Someone taught me that real strength means treating others with warmth and protecting those who can't protect themselves," Ippo continued. "I want to be that kind of strong."
Takamura studied the training log again, shaking his head in amazement. "Most people would have died attempting this routine. Hell, most professional fighters don't train this hard. Where'd you get the idea to—"
"His father was a police officer," Ippo interrupted quietly. "A hero who died protecting a stranger from thugs. And his mother was bedridden, sick for years before she passed away. He trained this hard while taking care of her, while working to survive, while carrying on his father's legacy of protecting people."
He looked up at Takamura with eyes that burned with quiet determination.
"I have a loving mother, a home, support. If someone with nothing could become a hero through pure effort, then I have no excuse not to try."
Takamura stared at him for a long moment, then broke into a grin that was equal parts impressed and concerned.
"Well, I'll be damned. You really are serious about this. And if you can handle that kind of training without dying, then you're ready for anything I can throw at you."
"More serious than I've ever been about anything."
"Good." Takamura clapped him on the shoulder. "Because tomorrow, we start real boxing training. And kid? If you can do two thousand sit-ups a day, learning to throw some proper punches should be a piece of cake."
As they walked toward the gym, Ippo felt Yuto's presence like a warm hand on his shoulder—not painful anymore, but inspiring. A boy who'd lost everything but still chose to be kind, still chose to protect others, still chose to honor his father's heroic legacy.
[TEMPLATE UNLOCK: 10%][PHYSICAL CONDITIONING: EXCEPTIONAL][MENTAL PREPARATION: HEROIC][FOUNDATION ESTABLISHED: YUTO'S TRAINING REGIMEN MASTERED][READY FOR BOXING INSTRUCTION]
"Thank you, Yuto," Ippo whispered under his breath. "And thank you to your father, too. I promise I'll use this strength to protect people, just like he taught you."