Aoi has always been a firm girl. Not much could soften her or change the way she thinks, speaks or acts. In particular, she had no patience, ironically, for whiny and noisy patients. One that comes to mind is Zenitsu. Every single day, she had to go through the same thing: he's making a ruckus over simply having to take his medicine on the basis of it having an awful taste.
Aoi would scoff, as his options are either take the medicine or not recover. Any person whose illness didn't affect their brain's functionality would pick the logical option, Aoi thought.
But that changed one time.
The one time the Sound Hashira, Uzui Tengen, came to "recruit", and Aoi uses that word loosely because it was more of a double kidnapping in broad daylight. Nonetheless, Uzui needed some girls for a mission, and went to take Aoi and Naho for it. While Kanao, Sumi and Kiyo tried to stop the flamboyant man, Tanjiro thankfully showed up to save the day. He volunteered himself along with his comrades Inosuke and Zenitsu to go instead, with the latter two having an entrance that even Aoi thought was pretty stylish.
And that was that. Off they went.
Aoi wouldn't hear from the gang again until a couple of days later...
Everyone was in pretty bad shape, not to mention being in a coma. Aoi was afraid. It was frightening to think...
"No...No! You have to wake up! You have to! I didn't even get a chance to thank you for going instead of me!"
Sumi, Kiyo and Naho were all as concerned about the trio as Aoi was. They really grew fond of them during the time they spent together in training.
Kanao seemed particularly worried about Tanjiro, Aoi noted.
"I think I know how you feel..."
Zenitsu...
Recalling the events of the day they went on the mission, Aoi couldn't see the blonde's face, but she could hear and sense his intimidation while confronting Uzui. And yet he still did it.
She really owed him a thanks.
Thankfully, the dread hanging over everyone started to evaporate sometime later when Kiyo came to Aoi with some news.
"Ms. Aoi! Ms. Aoi!"
"What is it, Kiyo?"
"Inosuke woke up!"
The boar head wearing demon slayer was indeed awake, and it seemed like he went back to his old self in no time. Aoi sighed in relief, but still had concerns over the remaining Tanjiro and Zenitsu.
A few more days pass, and Kanao is walking in on Tanjiro as usual and...
"Ms. Aoi! Ms. Aoi!"
"Yes, Naho?"
"Tanjiro has woken up!"
When Aoi arrived to the room, Kanao was already there, smiling in a way she's never seen her before. It was a beautiful sight.
"I wish you two happiness together."
Aoi was once again grateful, but she had to hold her breath for one more.
Some more days pass by, and everyday the blue eyed butterfly girl was waiting for Sumi to come bring her the good news, but with each day that didn't happen, everyone feared the worst.
Aoi was checking on Zenitsu everyday, hoping to see him open his eyes. Currently, she was doing just that, sitting on a chair at his bedside with a disheartened look on her face.
"Zenitsu... please wake up. You have to...please..." Some tears made their way down her face.
Just outside the room, Sumi, Kiyo and Naho were observing quietly. After taking a peek in, they exchanged saddened expressions and started leaving.
"Poor Ms. Aoi..." Kiyo stated.
"Yes...She really wants for Zenitsu to wake up..." Naho followed up.
The two noticed that their friend Sumi wasn't saying anything, so they simultaneously inquired what was wrong.
"I didn't get to give Ms. Aoi the good news about Zenitsu waking up...I feel so bad..."
The other two patted her on both side.
"It's not your fault, Sumi." Kiyo told her.
"Yeah, Zenitsu waking up will make Ms. Aoi happy regardless." Naho added.
Sumi smiled and wiped her tears away. "Thank you."
Unbeknownst to them, that's exactly what happened after they left.
Everything was a blur to Zenitsu. The one thing he could make out was the walls of the room. His hearing was still as sharp as ever, so he got a bit alarmed when he picked up the crying of a young girl.
He looked to his side, noticing someone familiar.
Aoi.
But why was she crying?
"...A...Aoi..."
The soft words reached her ears, and she gasped in shock.
"Z...Zenitsu... Zenitsu! Thank God you're okay!" The butterfly girl started crying out of gratitude.
"Why...why are you crying...?"
"You idiot! I was worried about you all because you went in my place!"
Zenitsu figured that made sense. "Well...I wouldn't have been alright if it wasn't for you...thank you..."
"How are...Tanjiro and...Inosuke?" He asked.
Aoi composed herself a little before carrying on with the conversation. "Ah, they both woke up already, and they're good."
The blonde boy smiled. "Thank God..." Then he looked back upwards.
"They both should be slowly going back to the swing of things right now." Aoi explained.
"I see...Say Aoi, I wanna ask you..."
"Yes?"
"Do you think that I'm having hallucinations...?"
She raised a confused eyebrow. "Why would you think that?"
"Because...Because I could swear Inosuke is clinging onto the ceiling of this room..."
On instinct, Aoi looked up and...
"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Sure enough, Inosuke was clinging on the ceiling of the room the way a salamander sticks on the wall.
"HAHAHA, well done on spotting me, Monitsu!"
"Well...I was looking upwards, so naturally I would see you, idiot." Zenitsu retorted in a unimpressed tone. "Why were you even hiding there?"
"I wanted to see when you'll wake up compared to Monjiro, hahaha!" Inosuke dropped down directly on Zenitsu's bed, much to Aoi's chagrin. "Hey, get off the bed! Zenitsu needs to rest still!"
"Huh?" Inosuke turned to the girl with his typical confused posture. "Why are you suddenly acting like this with him?"
"It's none of your business. Now can you please leave? I wanna talk with him in person. And don't tell anyone he's awake yet."
Inosuke scoffed before taking his leave. "Fine. Whatever."
Now that they're finally alone, Aoi looked back to Zenitsu. "Sorry about him. I really had no idea he was being an idiot again."
"It's alright...But, what did you want to talk to me about?"
"Right. I wanted to thank you, Zenitsu."
"Huh? What for?"
Aoi playfully rolled her eyes at his persisting cluelessness, though she was also slightly smiling to herself. "For standing up for me that day, when you three went on the mission with Uzui."
"O-oh! That? That was nothing. Besides, it's not like I was doing it by myself. Tanjiro and Inosuke were also there."
"I know, I know. But let me explain, I've obviously known Tanjiro to be a very nice guy, so that is expected of him. And Inosuke...well, he was being Inosuke and...it sounded like he was thinking more about the mission rather than me. But you, you specifically called for me, and that meant the world to me, if only because, in all honesty, I had a bad first impression of you. So thank you for doing that and changing how I see you."
By the time Aoi was finished with her explanation, she had a slight blush on her face but it was nothing compared to what was going on with Zenitsu's face. You could easily mistake him for a tomato, he was so red.
And normally, he would going all over the place due to the praise, but of course, he just woke up from a decently prolonged coma so all the boy could really do was turn his face away from Aoi.
"You..you shouldn't give me all that praise, you know..."
"Why not? You're a good person and a strong demon slayer."
Strong.
"This is the second time...someone misused that word in reference to me..."
"No, I'm not strong. You shouldn't say that about me." Aoi could see the frown on his face. He was disheartened.
"Zenitsu, you really are. You took part in a big battle, and it took a while but here you are waking up alive. Not only that, you're also very brave. Not like me. I can't go to the battlefield, I'm such a coward."
He turned to look back at the girl. "You're still here, taking care of those who come from the battlefield. If it weren't for you, some of us might not be here right now, you know..."
"See? I wouldn't be taking care of you if you weren't out there putting your life on the line for the sake of those who can't defend themselves." Aoi smiled at him.
"I guess so..." Zenitsu smiled back.
"So thank you again, Zenitsu. I'm forever grateful to you."
"You're welcome."
"I was thinking, if you want, after you recover, we can train or spend breaks together."
Zenitsu's expression changed into a comically enthusiastic one. "Really?!~"
"But, on one condition." Aoi put on her signature scowl. "No being weird. Understand?"
He shrunk back in the bed, stammering nervously. "Yes, yes, yes, of course!"
Putting her smile back on, Aoi nodded. "Very well. I should go tell everyone else you're awake now. They've been worried sick as well. See you in a minute." She got up and started leaving.
In that moment, a realization hit Zenitsu: He was so caught up in their conversation that he didn't notice Aoi holding his hand throughout, probably even before he woke up. It was only after she let go and left now that it hit him.
"Even her touch can heal. What a wonderful girl."
That day, Aoi wasn't the only one who experienced a change of opinion.