First Love / Late Spring (Genya Love Story)

6: Gen-ya

It was daytime.

Although the sun was out, there were sections of the Butterfly Mansion that the sunlight did not touch. Long, winding hallways without windows that were fun to explore. Aiko couldn't sleep. Last night, Tanjiro had come back from training downtrodden. He wasn't able to beat the Butterfly girls and it was getting him down.

It wasn't often that Tanjiro's eyes didn't sparkle.

Even in a fight, even facing adversity, Tanjiro would glow.

He was like a ray of sunshine.

To see his eyes so empty, it played over and over in Aiko's mind.

Feeling uneasy, Aiko paced those window-less hallways.

The Butterfly girls no longer ran away from her, but they did give her looks as she walked back and forth. Rounding a corner, Aiko barreled head first into someone.

A tall boy in a Demon Slayer uniform.

He looked furiously at her. "Watch it," he growls.

Aiko blinks innocently and he physically pales.

A girl?! With his face turning red, the boy pushes past and storms away.

Aiko waves goodbye.

.

.

Curious, Aiko waited for him.

Less than an hour later, that same boy came back.

She jumped up, waving politely.

He stopped in his tracks, looking behind and left and right. Was he surprised she waited for him? Or was he looking for an escape route?

Aiko began to mime, throwing her hands up and down and pointing at herself.

"I - I have to go. Move," he grunts.

Aiko stays in his way, pulling her muzzle down. He wasn't scared of her at all. He didn't even look disgusted. He was the first Demon Slayer, apart from Tanjiro's friends, who didn't look disgusted by her. Aiko wanted to be friends with him. She wanted someone like that around forever.

"Big," she grunts. She struggles to speak but it's improving, slowly. It always feels like there's a lump in her throat, stopping her words. She throws her hands up. "Big!" The boy was huge! He was the tallest boy she had ever seen. One of the Hashira's was big (that being the Stone Pillar) but he was a man. This was a teenage boy and he absolutely towered over her.

"I'm ... big?"

She nods. "Big!" Aiko then points to her face, drawing patterns in her skin. "Pretty!"

"You're pretty?" He turns redder. "I mean, you think you're pretty?"

Aiko shakes her head, stepping closer. He takes five feet back, as if she'd bite him. But he wasn't scared of her being a demon, Aiko could sense that. Was he just scared of girls?

She came closer again and he didn't move.

Aiko uses her index finger to trace his facial scar and the various cuts he had from training. She smiles. "Pretty!" She remembered how sad Tanjiro had been when he burned his forehead. He thought his scar made him ugly. He even asked Aiko once, when they were younger, if it made him scary looking. But Tanjiro was so kind and hardworking. He was beautiful inside and that showed outside.

Aiko had always liked scars since then.

They told a story.

They were part of what made humans, well, human.