For the remaining days of the winter break, Hyori exerted her mind control on Touya to get him settled into his new routine. She overviewed his mornings' obstacle 'races' inside training rooms that looked similar to the physical activities grounds of the Ultra Academy. There wasn't much room for hundreds of metres races. Therefore, the recruit was 'racing' on a large treadmill with robots shooting obstacles at him.
Professional trainers monitored his sessions and they must have been in the know of his situation since they addressed him like they had been training him for years. One of them confided they had spent hours observing footage of his actions during his time with the villains to measure his abilities and calibrate his sessions. They had a nearly nonexistent personal life as they spent almost all of their time and energy working for the commission. The team leader confessed they might have developed a para-social relationship with some of the people they had been keeping tabs on. He wasn't bothered since it helped them put on a believable play.
On his part, the subject of their experiment technically fared rather well in his new environment. He had been raised with a discipline on par with military training and found comfort in a familiar setting. He had been rather proactive by waking up early to train on his own in the facility before the beginning of his actual sessions. To the enchantment of his supervisors, he showed eagerness in practising his skills. He had reverted to the kid that burnt in his childhood home and was set on becoming a stronger hero than any other and repeatedly asked for sparring partners despite never being granted one.
Eventually, the issue of his fire resistance arose along with his appearance. His head might have been shaved to let his natural colouration grow anew, but his patched skin still marked the spirits. People would immediately recognise him the second he would be spotted outside. For the time being, they had prevented the young man from seeing his reflection, supposing his physique would trigger memories of his former life.
The commission planned to make him undergo a makeover with better skin graft surgery. Their partnered medical teams had studied the beasts crafted by 'Professor' and were practising his advanced grafting techniques. Hyori dreaded to know what these practices meant in surgery rooms and refrained from asking for intel she might regret having. She would wait for the finished product just like a regular citizen who wasn't privy to the affair.
Hyori's role was to keep the young man's emotions on the sidelines during his training session while Megumi adjusted the remembrance of his unlawful life to tweak them into memories inside the facility. The sisters were gaslighting the young man into a false narrative close enough to the reality that it would be believable. Any remembrance of his past was cast as a weird dream before being altered during his slumber.
The ordeal seemed surreal and was taking a toll on Megumi who struggled to keep track of the minor changes needed. The main issue in perfecting the minor changes was the subject's closed behaviour. The young man hardly talked about his 'weird dreams' and they had taken the invasive habit of diving into his mind every night. Four days into the manoeuvre, Hyori suggested they didn't have the smoothest approach. She addressed her feedback to the Vice President who had daily meetings with the two girls in the evening.
"Focusing on adjusting his fragmented remembrances is a losing game. They will keep resurfacing and we have too little intel on what happened to him. At some point, we will create inconsistencies and erode his trust, which will hinder his progression. I think we should focus on creating new authentic memories."
"What does it mean?" Pressed Mister Mera.
"He needs to experience things for real." Answered Hyori.
The man was in deep thought as he considered his words. After a moment, he got an idea.
"Work studies for hero apprentices are scheduled following the winter break. Can it count as an authentic experience?"
"I think so." Replied Hyori.
"I'll see which hero can help." Concluded the man. "I guess his Father is out of consideration."
"Naturally. It might be too soon to confront him with another narrative." Agreed Hyori.
The firebender's family hadn't left him for dead. They have been told he was dead and given his supposed remnants to bury. They had mourned his loss and would probably try to reason with him, stating they never left him behind. The young man wasn't fortified yet in his new identity to be challenged.
By the time Hyori returned to Hakone for the last semester of the school year, she had been informed the recruit would intern with a spotted seal hero on a Marine crew. She wondered if the aquatic setting of the internship had been a key point as a safety measure against the young man's volatile quirk usage. The sisters had twisted his cognitive memories and perceptions, but his muscular memories remained along with his aggressive style.
The internship had been terminated on the third day when Touya exploded a vessel. For his defence, the vessel had truly been a trafficking one but the action was out of lane. It wasn't even an accident. He purposefully directed his flames at the fuel chambers to provoke the explosion that resulted in numerous casualties. Being a rescue hero at heart, Selkie discontinued his internship stating the young man was a flying hazard that endangered his crew.
The commission hadn't been deterred and found a new mentor by the end of the week. The samurai hero, Yoroimusha, had volunteered to 'tame the flame' of the commission's recruit. The elderly man's agency was based in a dojo where the man had martial arts teachers and apprentices of all ages. He had assured to instil measurement into the hazardous firebender. This time, the commission's President requested Hyori to personally assist his insertion.
Hyori didn't want to personally be involved with the recruit's insertion program on weekdays since it would take time away from her studies. On the first Friday of the winter semester, the Principal received a request signed by the President of the Hero Commission's President requesting her presence and excusing her from classes. The girl had been called into the chimaera's office during her lunch break to discuss the matter.
"Could you feed me some intel regarding your involvement with the commission?" Enquired the Principal. "Being enrolled in the school, the administration can't be left in the dark about your whereabouts especially when the Hero Commission is involved."
"The President tasked me to evaluate the progress of a recruit." Answered Hyori.
"I hope these requests aren't disturbing your studies. I'm willing to help you negotiate with the Hero Commission if you feel burdened in any way." Concluded the shortest before dismissing her from his office.
On Saturday morning, Hyori woke up in a pile of blankets located inside the common living room of her class's dormitory. Her peers were pleased when she moved into the academy's accommodations and the class had a movie marathon on Friday evening. She eventually fell asleep along with a dozen of them and only woke up with her morning alarm. The numeric clock of her phone read seven in the evening. It had been her usual wake-up time when she lived in the pension and hadn't changed it. She usually used the time for a morning run towards the gym grounds where she showered before class. She was still Shinsou Hitoshi inside the academy and didn't plan to switch anytime soon.
Hyori boarded a bus for Tokyo at eight in the morning for her yoga classes. Stopping by the commission's accommodations would be a long detour and her first session would start in roughly half an hour. Inside her apartment, she powered the domestic robot to make her living room spotless and heat biscuits with tea water. Once the room was cleaned, she arranged the mats and equipment for the adults who would arrive in a few minutes. The participants congratulated her for the new place and voiced their appreciation of the upgraded facility. Her weekend went smoothly until Monday morning.
After waking up and following her morning routine inside her bathroom, she boarded a bus for the scheduled internship address at eight in the morning. Mister Yoroi's dungeon was located in an ancient part of Tokyo unaffected by the city's transformation into a megalopolis. Century-old trees bordered the place that looked like a heavenly enclave inside the booming capital. Upon arriving, Hyori introduced herself at the reception. An elderly short-statured man oriented her towards a special entrance on the paved way adjacent to the main entrance.
She exited the building that looked like a temple and walked on a path bordered by pristine bamboo trees until she had half-circled the building. There, she passed a half-fence that led into a squared garden contoured by a terrace. The place was similar to the inner gardens of the Inner Palace with trees that would take vibrant colours during the warm days. One of the rooms extended across the length of the whole court. The light inside let her see the shadows of two sparring figures. She entered the room and an elderly man was overviewing the spar of two young men clad in martial arts costumes.
One was sporting a Kendo uniform while the other wore a white costume common among martial arts apprentices. She could tell the latter was Touya with his annoyed icy-blue eyes and hair matching his costume's tone. The other one seemed familiar but she only saw his back. She had made her way next to the elderly man who hushed her with a sign of his hand when she attempted to greet him. Hyori silently removed her coat and sat beside the elderly man. The spectacle was abruptly ended when Touya's hands lit with blue flames before the apprentice facing him viciously knocked his practice sword on his head. The hit made Touya stumble back and he caressed the attacked area.
The elderly man ordered the two young men to stop and rose from his position on the floor. The other apprentice, who might be a professional judged by his performance, turned around and his onyx eyes met Hyori's amethyst ones. Beside the parted bowl his black hair was cut into, she recognised her former middle school classmate. The boy also recognised her despite her longer loose curls falling around her face and neck instead of defying gravity. For a second, he might as well have seen a ghost before regaining his composure.
Mister Yoroi, the elderly man, dismissed Touya's complaint that an indoor spar was unfair considering it disadvantaged him and favoured the hero's grandchild.
"You won't always be in an advantageous situation. You are far too lenient on your quirk and need to work on your physical condition." Chastised the hero.
The admonished apprentice rolled his eyes but Hyori sensed he grasped the truth in the man's wise words. Then, the elderly hero turned to face Hyori and finally acknowledged her presence.
"I suppose you are here on behalf of the Hero Commission." Stated the man.
"Yes, I am. Shinsou Hyori." Replied the girl while showing him her badge.
The man explained to her how he had heroic interns and would overview the recruit early in the mornings and late at night. He had been made aware of the arrangement and was willing to keep the young man's secret until he would be presentable. Therefore, he wouldn't receive him in the same area where he received his staff and heroic apprentices. His grandnephew would help Touya get in better shape while he catered to his academic apprentices and the hero would take the recruit for late-night patrols.
The hero exited the room after his speech, leaving Kiku in charge. Hyori thought leaving the volatile man under the supervision of a teen was risky. That probably was the reason she had been requested to attend. Still, she doubted her abilities to control the situation and the commission expected a miracle. She hoped the explosive firebender would behave in the dojo. So far, he had begrudgingly admitted the boy's physical superiority and seemed diligent in learning martial arts. That had only been a few hours but Hyori hoped the trend would remain unchanged, for the sake of attending school in the coming days.
When lunch break arrived, Kiku took them inside the building towards a dining room where he suggested Hyori wait for them to clean before lunch. The short-statured man from the reception was putting dishes on the low table and invited the girl to take a seat. After a few minutes, Kiku entered the room alone and asked Hyori if he could sit on her side. She agreed, sensing the multiple questions he had for her. The boy was nervous and she took the lead.
"My cousin recounted to me your encounter at his school. Thank you for your concern but I'm not ready to forget yet."
"I wouldn't ask so much." Replied Kiku who went from expectation to dejection.
"Could you keep the secret of our acquaintance?" Asked Hyori.
"I would." Promised the boy.
After a minute of silence, Touya entered the room and sat opposite them. The trio silently ate their lunch and the day unravelled in the same stern atmosphere.