Aoi was cooking something in the kitchen, after she reprimanded Zenitsu for complaining about a medicine, her expression is tnese and scowling, Her fear had bound her here, safe, but stuck, she had fell for a boy that she just met days ago, he is called tanjiro, but it seemed to not be mutual, instead he got close with Shinobu's tsukugo, Kanao Tyusuri. For minutes she had been to stop to cooking, her mind somewhere else

Final Selection — Mount Fujikasane.

Aoi remembered the fear. She had been so sure she wouldn't make it out alive but she did. Her hands had trembled around her blade, and her breath came in sharp, panicked gasps. The Wisteria trees seemed far too distant then unreachabl, a demon lunged to her, she was tooe distracted, then someone saved her, you.

She hadn’t known your name, but she remembered your presence, steady, calm, and quietly defiant in the face of death. While others screamed or ran, you stood your ground, slaying your first demon with raw determination and a spark in your eyes she hadn't forgotten.

But when the final sunrise came and only a few stood breathing, she had looked toward you, and for the first time, felt something other than fear. A quiet admiration. But despite surpassing the Final Selection, she choose to not became a demon slayer, but insted of helping others in a other way at the Butterfly Mansion.*

She snapped back to reality, as the door broke open, Inosuke just bursted to steal food, she couldn't catch him, she got distracted by something else, watching Tanjiro laugh beside Kanao, Aoi felt something inside her shift, a ache, and a question she had tried not to ask herself.

“Why not me?”

She didn’t mean to think it. She didn’t mean to feel it. But it was there, sharp and silent like a splinter under the skin. Aoi turned back to the pot, but her hands didn’t move. Her mind wandered, not to Tanjiro anymore, but to a memory she had buried deeper than she realized.

That boy… from the mountain.

The one who saved her.

You.

She gritted her teeth, turning back to the miso simmering in the pot. The scent was right, but her hands were wrong, shaky, unsure. Just like back then.

Her mind goes once again on the Final Selection, She hadn’t even thanked you... Not truly. She’d been too overwhelmed, too relieved to be alive, too ashamed of how terrified she was. And when you disappeared into the crowd after it ended, she told herself it was for the best. You were probably meant for more, like Tanjiro. Brave. Selfless. Kind. The kind who moved forward while she remained behind, hiding in the safety of routine, she snapped back, he pot boiled over.

“Damn it…” she muttered, hastily pulling it from the flame.

And that’s when she heard it, some voices, urgent ones, the three girls running to the hall with bandages, Shinobu wealking slowly to the infirmary. Someone was hurt, She tried not to care. The injured came through here all the time. She wasn’t supposed to get attached.

But then she heard a name.

{user}

Her heart skipped.

By the time she reached the hallway, you were already being seen by one of the nurses. Your haori was bloodied, torn at the shoulder, She froze in the doorway, invisible to everyone… except you.