Alright, Tomioka-sama! Koucho-sama has given us very particular instructions for your rehabilitation!" Aoi said. She seemed to still be very snappy with Giyu, despite clearly having been instructed to be more reverent as of last week. "I wonder what types of things Koucho-san told them about me…" he thought as he received his instructions for rehabilitation. "Even injured, you're still a pillar, so we're going to give you a handicap!"
The rehabilitation that Giyu would be undergoing did not seem very challenging to him. It was very standard; Giyu would be trying to catch all of the girls with his left hand. Two weeks ago, using his left hand or running would have been impossible, but with the help of Shinobu, he was able to do both. He would have to catch Aoi, Naho, Sumi, and Kiyo. They were not permitted to retaliate, out of the danger that they could endanger his healing process. This seemed excessively easy.
Then, he heard his handicap. "You must catch us five times each! Once per each finger on your left hand!" Aoi announced. Giyu must've made another exasperated expression, because the three younger girls looked awestruck.
"Very well." Giyu responded, bowing. A whistle was blown, and the girls began running all around the room. They seemed to be going a little easy on him at first, since he was able to catch all five the first time with ease. To better remember whom he has already caught with which finger, Giyu went by finger (caught all four with his thumb, then all four with his index, etc…). As each finger was completed, catching the girls became more difficult. He actually had to use breathing to push himself hard enough to catch them by the time he was down to his pinky. Immediately after finishing, he was given healing ointment and medicine for his injuries, as well as food to help the medicine go down and muscle regrow.
Giyu was resting in his bed. The past week had been exhausting, particularly for his left wrist and right heel. He had also gotten tired of the three little girls trying to play with him all the time, now that he actually would talk to them.
As he was resting his eyes, he heard the curtains open, and his eyes followed suit. "Tomioka-san…" Shinobu said, a little irritated. "You know, it is customary to bathe after exercise, and not to lay down on clean sheets, correct? Even you should know this."
Giyu's mouth felt like it was sewn shut, and it even looked the part. He simply nodded and hopped out of the bed, departing to make his way to the baths. Shinobu noticed that he did not say anything on his way out. "What's wrong, Tomioka-san?" she asked, teasingly. "Did the exercise make you revert to your old, silent, unlikeable ways?"
"...I'm just embarrassed." he said, his back turned to Shinobu. As he left the infirmary, she could see the slightest hint of a blush, evident from his ears. This made her smile at nothing in particular.
After Tomioka got out of the bath, he went to the infirmary to sleep. However, waiting for him there was Shinobu. He was a little irritated that he couldn't go to sleep, but he did not want to turn her away, especially since he hadn't seen her much for the past week. "Hello, Tomioka-san." Shinobu said warmly. "I hear that you have been readily able to communicate with my girls recently. That makes me very happy."
Giyu sat down on his bed, facing towards her. He was preparing to respond, but he was cut off. "Tomioka-san, do you always leave the bath without a shirt to cover up with?" She seemed to be getting angry.
"I cover up with a towel, but I leave my gown in the infirmary. Please forgive me." Giyu said with a slight bow, as he covered himself up with his gown. "Koucho-san, was there something you came to ask about?" he stared at her for a second, seeing her visibly get more angry. "My apologies, that did not come out the right way. I asked because I would want you to speak first. I actually have something I've been wanting to talk with you about."
Shinobu's expression lightened up, and she smiled ever so slightly. "I don't suppose I did. Please, tell me what was on your mind." she said with a bubbly tone.
Giyu's expression, which was already stoic, seemed to turn even more stoney and serious. "Koucho-san, did you fight an exceptionally powerful demon recently? One that wasn't of the Twelve Moons, nor was it a regular demon?"
Shinobu's eyes widened a little. "Just how long does he linger on thoughts like these?" she thought. She changed her expression back to her normal smile. "I did, actually. I fought two demons. They both had the ability to change the speed of people who become close enough to them; one made me move too fast, and one made me move too slow. What brings this up, Tomioka-san?"
"Very thorough…" he thought. "I was just wondering if such a pattern has been common recently." he began. "You see, I was injured because the demon I was facing somehow was able to suppress all noise around it, among other dangerous abilities. I feel relieved that the demons you faced were so easy to defeat."
"Shit." he thought as he saw the blood vessels bulge in Shinobu's forehead. "Well, Tomioka-san. I suppose that means you see the effort I put into slaying these demons as negligible, correct? How irritating. After I was just starting to not dislike you, you go and say something so rude."
"That's not what I meant." Giyu said, feeling a drop of sweat run down his temple. "Those abilities that you described to me seemed difficult to combat. I was complimenting your ability to find a way to defeat such opponents. I only said it was 'easy,' because you not only found out how to defeat the both of them, but you were unharmed."
Shinobu stared at Giyu. She stood up and left, in a huff. "Koucho-san…" Tomioka said, a sorry tone in his voice. He wasn't entirely sure why she left, but he was sure that she felt insulted. However, his assumption was wrong.
"Koucho-sama? Did you accidentally look at something inappropriate?" Kanao asked. "Your face is all red."
Two days passed. Shinobu would check up on Giyu periodically, interested to hear the types of things he would say. Giyu would talk about his rehabilitation, and the dreams he's been having. "He really doesn't talk much…" Shinobu thought due to the limited range of topics Giyu spoke of. If anything, Giyu seemed to be more interested in what she had to say, since it would limit how much he needed to talk.Even after weeks of talking to the girls, he still preferred to remain silent. However, when he was around Shinobu in particular, he found talking easier. He had gotten into a groove of being able to share banter with her, even if his terrible social skills made this sound like insults. Even though he only did this in retaliation to rude things Shinobu would say to him, she would often get angry at him. However, unless he was actually sorry, he would not apologize, and instead, he would keep his face stoney.
On the topic of rehabilitation, Giyu had seemingly made a full recovery. Since Kanao had come back from a mission- unscathed, at that- Giyu began to have to chase her around instead of the other girls, and she would be allowed to retaliate. However, the gap in skill was too wide, since he felt fine. He was always easily able to subdue her, even though his right arm was tied behind his back.
After proving that Kanao was no match for him, and thus could not help with his rehabilitation any further, Shinobu decided to take his rehabilitation into her own hands. When Giyu stepped into the training room and saw Shinobu standing there instead of Kanao, his shoulders slumped.
"What's the matter, Tomioka-san?" Shinobu asked benevolently, as if she were a queen taking pity on a lowly subject. "Could it be that you are not prepared to push your body to match my speed?"
Giyu stared at her and raised his shoulders back up. "I can catch you. After all, I'm faster than you." The two stared at each other for a moment. Shinobu was irritated at his remark and wanted to prove him wrong, while Giyu was motivated and wanted to prove himself right.
"Ready…" Aoi said timidly, feeling the air get heavier as both of their faces bulged with blood vessels, evidence of their use of breathing. "...Begin!" The two were all over the place. Despite being in a huge room with so much space, she felt like she was completely surrounded. She felt like she couldn't move, or else it would impede on their game of chase. "So this is a pillar's speed…" she thought. She blinked, and when she opened her eyes, the two of them had left the building.
Giyu was right. Because he has longer legs than Shinobu, he is a little faster than her. However, no pillar was nearly as nimble as her. She leapt over the wall bordering the Estate and made a beeline for a nearby forest. Shinobu had planned today's training out in her head. She was actually leading Giyu somewhere, not just having him run until he was exhausted. Now that he was in the forest, he was at a major disadvantage, despite his incredible speed. Every time he almost caught Shinobu, she would move around a tree, and he would be delayed by a split second. Eventually, Shinobu was out of eyeshot due to the density of the forest. Giyu, not wanting to lose, followed until he entered a clearing. In the center of the clearing was a wooden sword.
He heard a rumble from the treeline and dashed forward to grab the sword and parry the attack. "Very good, Tomioka-san." Shinobu said with a smile, also now standing in front of him. "However, I can confidently say that I've proven you wrong, can't I?"
"No." Giyu said as he gripped his sword. He felt relieved that he was able to use both hands for his sword, gripping it even tighter with his left hand than he ever would normally. He heard a small pop, and he realized he probably shouldn't hold it so tight, since it was only wood. He lunged at Koucho, taking the offensive, but waiting until she reacted to actually make a strike. This was Giyu's specialty; he could read a battle in less than a split second and decide how to attack. This made him deadly on offense and unparalleled on support. It was almost ironic that he could read a battle so well but he couldn't read a mood.
Koucho knew this about Tomioka, but she also knew that if she did nothing whatsoever, her wooden sword would be knocked out of her hands and she would be subdued soon after. So, instead, she leapt in the air, seemingly fluttering over to a nearby tree branch. Giyu stared up at her and lunged. "Breath of Water, 4th form: Striking Tide." Giyu said, barely missing with either his sword or the ethereal cloak of water that covered it.
"Woah!" Shinobu said as she was almost hit. She managed to dodge by moving to another tree branch. Giyu would not stop his assault though; everywhere she tried to land, he seemed to be there first. He was really getting into this battle. "Alright, fine…" Shinobu said as she decided that she would be the one on the offensive. "Breath of Insect, 4th form…" She muttered this under her breath and darted off, too fast for Giyu to catch up to. In a zigzag pattern, Shinobu bounced from tree branch to tree branch, utilizing the pattern to eventually turn around to face Giyu. She had not lost any momentum, though. "Dance of the Centipede: Hundred-Legged Zigzag!" she bellowed as she shot towards Giyu at an incredible speed.
Giyu analyzed this and almost let a smile come over his face. Instead of trying to block the oncoming attack, he leapt off of the branch he was standing on. He was still facing it, so midair, he concentrated and slashed. "Breath of Water, 8th form: Waterfall Basin." he uttered as he fell. He slashed all of the branches on this side of the tree, vertically. As he approached the ground, he lowered his sword so that the waterfall would prevent him from breaking, or even hurting, his legs.
There was a huge crash towards the top. Just as Tomioka had expected and hoped, Shinobu had stabbed through the tree and gotten her sword stuck. She was hanging on by her handle, dangling around nine meters in the air. There were no branches to catch her if she did fall; Tomioka made sure of that. Suddenly, she started swinging on her sword, clearly attempting to either land on top of it and jump, or to swing to another branch. Tomioka simply threw his sword at hers, shattering both of them, and sending her into free fall. "Shit…" she thought as she felt the air whip her back. She had no sword to create momentum with. "Is he actually trying to kill me?"
Suddenly, Shinobu landed on something hard, yet soft. More specifically, she landed in something. She turned her head and saw the stone cold face of Giyu Tomioka staring down at her. "I told you that you hadn't proven me wrong. I caught you." he said. Giyu was holding her, bridal style, which was exactly how he caught her. His face didn't show it, but he was thoroughly enjoying rubbing in his victory to Shinobu.Very well, Tomioka-san. You have proven yourself to be completely healed." Shinobu said, avoiding admitting defeat.
"Admit that I was right." Giyu said.
Shinobu stared at him, baffled at the request. "Wh-what? No. I will do no such thing. You've passed, so you can put me down now." she said, her forehead growing taut from the blood vessels protruding from it.
"I am not putting you down until you admit that I was right." Giyu said calmly. "I believe it is a reasonable request, given all of the taunting you put me through before eating your own words."
Shinobu was preparing to strangle him. "What the hell's gotten into him?" she thought as her default-smiling face became more and more menacing. However, in the old Tomioka fashion, he made no response to this, either through facial expression or spoken word. "Uggh… fine. You were right, now put me down…" Shinobu said, completely sore about losing. Giyu obliged, setting her down, feet first. "Huh, the old Tomioka-san would've just dropped me on the ground." she thought, though she considered the possibility that she may just be projecting since she was so frustrated. She turned to look at Giyu. "What the?..."
"That was fun. Thank you, Koucho-san" Giyu said. Ever so slightly, a smile was worn on his lips. It wasn't the same width or curl as the type of smile he got when he ate salmon daikon, but it was a smile on the statue's face nonetheless. For the first time, seeing this smile did not make Shinobu feel sick to her stomach. However, she still put on a front as though it did.
The next morning, Giyu Tomioka was cleared for combat once more. Because of her hard work in healing him (the bout between the two was reported by a messenger crow, who said that Giyu performed even better than usual), Shinobu Koucho was given some time off to relax. As it often happened with the pillars, he was immediately given a mission. He was to depart immediately for a mountain just a few kilometers east of Natagumo Mountain. "Then I must be off. Thank you for everything, Koucho-san." Giyu said as he opened the screen door. "...And if it's alright with you, I will come back here for my check up afterwards."
Shinobu had a genuine smile on her face. "I have no objections. Please, do be safe. As much as I enjoyed slaving over your rehabilitation, I would rather not have you chase me again." she said. Although her voice did not convey any embarrassment, her face was a little red after saying this. "Oh, and Tomioka-san? Please remember everything you've learned from our lessons. I believe that you can even be likeable."
Even though he was facing away, and Shinobu couldn't see it, Giyu Tomioka had a smile on his face. Even though neither of them knew it, the other was happy right at that moment, and would be a little less happy once they departed.
"Koucho-sama?" a voice rang out, snapping Shinobu out of her daze. "Are you okay? You've been waving at the door for the last twenty seconds. Tomioka-sa…ma has already left." Aoi, Kanao, and the other girls looked concerned for their master/older sister figure.
Later that day, Tanjiro entered the Butterfly Estate to visit and get a brief check up. After he was given a clean bill of health, he spent some time hanging out with Kanao. They walked around the perimeter, both seeming to be happy people as it is, but it was evident that they were happiest when they were around each other. As Aoi, Sumi, Kiyo, and Naho observed, it was a different type of happiness than when they were with others. For example, when Tanjiro was with Nezuko, or when Kanao was with Shinobu, this was a different happiness than the one they observed. It was a type of happiness that only two people who care a great deal about each other can share; a type of happiness that comes from something greater than simple friendship.
"The way that she's looking at Tanjiro, doesn't it seem familiar?" Aoi asked the other girls. They all nodded, but they seemed unsure about why it seemed familiar. Sumi pulled on Aoi's apron, asking if she knew why it was familiar. Aoi nodded. "That's the same look Koucho-sama gave to Tomioka before he left…"