"So... they don't have a general way removing people's powers or memories in the city. It's more specific... maybe done when they brainwash us." Blame the fact that everyone in his band has regained a power that he thinks it's more common than the reality. Everyone in the band except Pao-Lin, but they suspect she may have something because she's from Ivan's world. They remember some of the same things.

He looks at his hands holding the shamisen and bachi. A memory steals his attention. He's a child. Other kids his age are taunting him, calling him a monster, a freak. Their parents demand the school give them list of all NEXTs and their powers enrolled, so they can remove their children from classes shared with those dangers. If only the registration bill could get passed. Couldn't they just use the technology in Abbas Prison everywhere? It'd be so much safer to control those powers.

The memory doesn't feel blurred or fuzzy in the same way like his memories in the past have been. Any fuzziness is from the age of the memory. Odd, but Ivan isn't going to focus on that change too much. He's more shocked at how easy the memory came so easily and triggered by something so tangential. Is this related to how he discovered he could fight with katana days earlier?