Months later

"Hey guys!" Ippo closed the door behind him and took in a deep breath. Relishing the gym smell that he had come to know and love.

Some of the present members greeted as the newest pro-boxer of the group came up to him," Senpai, what took you so long?"

"Oh sorry, I was at the doctors, hang on, let me change and then we can get started." Itagaki frowned at that as Ippo started to walk away.

"Doctor?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot that it was Tuesday, don't worry about that, he goes to the doctor every Tuesday." Itagaki looked over his shoulder to see Aoki and Kimura standing there, the two of them watching Ippo as he walked into the locker room. He had been attending the Kamogawa gym for a while and he hasn't heard anything about that.

"He does?"

"Yep," Aoki popped the p at the end of his word," Remember how he got into that accident a few months ago and was dead for about a week?"

"Yeah, how could I not? I was pretty upset until they found him." Kimura hummed in agreement. It made national news when Ippo was pronounced dead after days of searching in the sea. A lot of people even came by the gym to give their condolences and leave flowers behind for Ippo, even more people went to Ippo's house to do the same for his mother.

"Yeah, we all were, but what they didn't report, was that Ippo actually has amnesia, he goes to the doctor every Tuesday to try and get his memory back." Itagaki's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull. His head whipping around to stare at the closed locker room door that Ippo had just entered.

"Really!?"

"Yep," Kimura took over as he casually leaned against the ropes of the indoor ring," he remembers a few bits and pieces, but he's still missing a lot. He's slowly remembering everything though. Have you ever noticed the way he'll be talking and then he just zones out?"

"Yeah?" Ippo had done that more than once since Itagaki joined the gym. And the first time he saw Ippo zone out, he tried to shake Ippo's shoulder to get his attention and barely managed to dodge the punch Takamura had thrown at him.

"That usually happens when he remembers something. That's why Takamura tried to knock you out when you tried to shake him. It's just best to leave him alone when he's like that." Kimura still remembers the first time Ippo zoned out. He was in the middle of pummeling the sand bag like he usually does when he just stopped.

It was eerie to just see the young man get into position to punch the bag, only for him to stop and slowly straighten himself up, staring at the sandbag the entire time. When Aoki had tried to bring him out of his trance, he ended up getting a bloody nose since he scared the living shit out of Ippo and got a punch in return.

"That does explain a lot. Did he change after the accident? Like personality wise?" Aoki and Kimura stopped to think about that for a little bit. Ippo didn't really change that much, he was a lot more confident, he didn't shrink under attention as much, but he was still as humble as ever. His fashion sense did change though, instead of the baggy, layered clothes he used to wear all the time, now, it was normal to see Ippo wearing a snug t-shirt and pair of jeans on his down time, he only wore baggy clothes while working out. And he did change his hair style, he kept it shorter now, but again, like his new sense of fashion, it looked good on the young man.

Although they do think that Ippo was influenced by Sendou just the tiniest bit since Sendou was one of the first people that he met after he lost his memory.

"Ehh, he actually didn't change that much. He is more confident though, and his sense of style did change."

"It did?"

"Yep, Ippo used to wear baggy clothes and tons of layers, he used to have his hair longer too. You wouldn't have thought that he was the national champion if you met him. We have a few pictures of him if you'd like to see them?"

"Oh definitely." Itagaki was having a hard time imagining Ippo in loose clothing in anywhere but the gym. Because even though Ippo can be timid at times, you can still tell that he was not someone to be messed with since his fit physic can be seen through his clothes.

"Ok! Let's start Itagaki! …Did I walk into something?" Ippo eyes flickered between the three of them. all they did was smile and shake their heads at his question.

"Nah, we were just talking about the old days before he joined the gym, we're gonna finish up this set and then we'll go running with you guys?" Ippo perked up at the mention of training, as he always did.

"Ok! Come on Itagaki, lets starts warming up." Itagaki readily agreed and warmed up with Ippo.

He watched Ippo out of the corner of his eye. He was a little bit curious on how Ippo used to act before he lost his memory. Even though Kimura said that he didn't change much, he was still curious.

But, it was the current Ippo that he had come to know and love.

And that was enough for him.