Ryoheiâs memory isnât bad because heâs flaky or impatient. His memory is bad because his brain is quite literally swiss cheese. He was beaten as a small child when he tried to defend his sister. He then subjected himself to hundreds, if not thousands of beatings as he grew up, training as a boxer. As good as he is when we first meet him, you know he got his ass kicked more than once.
As he ages and Colonello teaches him how to focus his Flames, his memory starts to improve⊠the Sun flames help to keep any further damage in check, though they canât repair whatâs already been done. Patience comes with maturity, and heâs settled into his role as the âidiot boxerâ or the 'idiot Guardianâ, so honestly, he doesnât notice it much anymore.
The problem is that heâs not an idiot. He IS impulsive, and that never really tempers much, but under the loudness, he knows that there are pieces of himself that are just missing. Words never come out quite right, he gets easily lost no matter how many times he goes somewhere, and every instruction needs to be written down so he can remember them. Knowing those gaps in his memory are there, knowing there are things he should be doing, or saying, words that work better than the overexcited jibberish that comes from his mouth, frustrates the hell out of him. Which, in turn, makes his recall even worse.
The things he does remember easily are muscle memory actions, and faces. He can throw a solid punch even if heâs half-dead, because his muscles react even if his brain isnât working properly. He canât remember a name to save his life, but he remembers every face heâs ever seen, and he remembers WHY he remembers them; friend, foe, rival, danger, help. Heâs also really good with dates⊠not so much what happened on the date, but that the date is important for some reason.
The only exception to this is his darling sister, Kyoko. He remembers EVERY SINGLE THING about her⊠her birthday, her favorite color, food, movie, music. He remembers the name of every boyfriend or possible boyfriend thatâs ever caught her eye, and heâs remembered every single time that heâs had to NOT kick the shit out of one of them because even though they made her cry, he promised her he wouldnât.