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At first, Aoi is just as confused as the Pillars; she has no idea why Oyakata-sama asked them, along with a few kakushi and Aoi, to visit that particular village.
He wasn't that specific either, he only said that they should take a break and have good time there, but they should remain a day in that place.
Al of them expect it to be a place infested by demons, or maybe enduring trouble of some kind, but the village seems quiet, peaceful, and even the people who live there seem to have good hearts, at leas the majority of them.
She can tell the Pillars, despite respecting Ubuyashiki, consider their time in there as wasted, although they don't complain, well... Shinazugawa does every now and then, but it's obvious all of them are desperate to get out of there.
However, Himejima is intrigued; he's the closest to Oyakata-sama and often can tell there's always a reason why he does the things he does.
"Why during winter?" He asks himself, but Aoi hears anyway; she's not sure if that's particularly important, but she respects the stone hashira's opinion, as well as the others.
Looking almost bored, they start wondering what to do, when all of them hear a very sweet voice that somehow doesn't get muffled by all the sounds and the chaos of the other people's voices.
"Good morning!" A young man, maybe a boy of eighteen or a bit more, with long, dark red hair beams, prompting the people from the businesses nearby to immediately wave at him in return. "Does anyone need charcoal today?"
As a couple of people call him to buy some, the Pillars stand there, as they've been frozen by a powerful spell. At the same time, some of the kakushi start talking with each other, and finally, one of them, a girl, decides to get closer to the sunshine everyone calls Tanjirou.
"I'm going to ask him out."
"You do that, and I'll fight you."
The kakushi girl is understandably confused; why is suddenly the wind hashira talking to her and why he doesn't want her to talk to one of the villagers?
However, Aoi understands, she does it too well that she doesn't get surprised when the other Pillars approach Shinazugawa and start arguing over who get to date the redhead. Even Himejima wants the opportunity to approach him because he found his voice really mesmerizing.
Aoi heard once that Ubuyashiki had the gift of foresight; it's supposedly to be in their bloodline and all his ancestors had it in order to give them an advantage against Muzan.
However, it has never been confirmed, no member of the Ubuyashiki family has talked about it. Not that she knows, at least. She used to believe it was a simple rumor spread by bored slayers who wanted to have fun telling crazy stories about Oyakata-sama, bu now she's not so sure.
This is definitely suspicious, and yet it can be a coincidence.
But if that's the case, why did he want his best warriors to meet Tanjirou if it was going to start a fight among them?
However, the storm passes quickly, and all of them reach an agreement that Aoi didn't believe them capable of: they decide to date him at the same time. All of them.
"Excuse me..." Kanroji is the one who ends up approaching him first, which is a good plan, at least in Aoi's opinion, because she's a sunshine as well. "We'd like to buy the rest of them."
That gives them what they want: Tanjirou's undivided attention, he look so happy his smile ends up making a few of the Pillars blush.
After introducing themselves and buying all of them, and since they don't actually need the charcoal, they end up giving them to the villagers who need them the most.
Which in return gives them a lot of points in Tanjirou's eyes; Aoi can tell he's a sweet boy who values kindness and generosity above anything else.
"You all are very sweet!"
This time, all of them blush. Aoi rolls her eyes.
Seriously, Oyakata-sama has weird sense of humor.
"In which part of the village do you live, Tanjirou?" Rengoku is the one who asks, even though every single one is curious about it.
"I actually live close to the mountain," Tanjirou informs them. "You can come if you want! My mother will be happy to know you bought every single on of the charcoal I had!"
They're not stupid, of course they accept the invitation, but they're greedy and possessive so Uzui gives Aoi and the kakushi money to get rooms and some more for them to eat whatever they please, as long as they don't come with them.
Tanjirou invites the whole group though.
"They prefer to stay here," Tokito assures him, grabbing one of the sunshine's arms to pull him close.
A few of the kakushi frown at the mist hashira when he's not looking, but of course none of them contradict him.
"Are you sure? Well, if that's what you want!"
"Make sure they don't get in trouble," Kocho whispers to Aoi when Tanjirou is getting distracted by Tomioka, who, despite not being that fond of talking, seems to have engaged in conversation with the redhead already.
"I could say the same to you." Aoi mumbles, because she can't help it.
Kocho smiles back at her, quite amused.
"You're right, but I get the feeling that this is something good," the insect hashira continues. "Like we were supposed to met him."
Perhaps that's what Ubuyashiki thought too, but Aoi doesn't say that out loud, she simply nods.
Surprisingly, Iguro starts asking a few questions to Tanjirou about his life there, while Himejima offers to carry the redhead's basket even though it's completely empty now.
Aoi watches them leave, surprised to notice that they all seem very taken with the sunshine already; maybe this is what Oyakata-sama saw in the close future for his Pillars, and wanted them to have peace and happiness for once.
She can see it too, by the way they act around him; they'll probably end up together... bringing the nine best warriors closer, just for their common love for a simple charcoal boy.
But knowing Ubuyashiki and his peculiar sense of humor, Aoi has the feeling that destiny won't make it easy for the Pillars.
They'll have to work hard to get Tanjirou's heart and perhaps, his family's approval.