it's very popular for people to say that it makes sense that Teru would like Akane instead of Aoi, and yes there's a concerning amount of evidence but there's arguably more reasonable evidence towards Teru liking Aoi, and it's quite over looked, nonetheless it's not as random as you'd think at first glance!
Teru is quite interested in what Aoi does and likes, he asks questions on a regular, Aoi even sees him as a cute dog with how happy he seems, and in her mind he's usually saying good morning and asking her something
Teru as a character doesn't open up, especially not to students, we've seen him open himself to Akane some, and has fully opened up to Kou in the latest chapters, but he goes up to Aoi and gives his opinion as well as listening to her's. Teru is very interested in her! although they only talk ground level things but Teru is not one for being good at socializing, but I'd say for the students it's a common occurrence for the school king and queen to be next to each other
and here it says it's Teru's free time, what is he spending it on? Aoi of course! like his siblings he has no problem giving away his time to a trivial conversation, because he just likes being around her.
he gets excited whenever he's around Aoi
and here he's complaining about how he's tired
but when he meets Aoi at the convenience store he gets happy and bubbly, I know in this chapter it says he gets more upbeat when he's tired but Aoi's also around! the whole chapter he starts up conversation
he tells her all about himself, she thinks he's weird because she never asked, never needed to know and is very confused on why he'd tell her all this, but I think even Teru has a hard time understanding that, now this is just my personal character speculation but I think Teru barely understands this feeling of love, he knows platonic love, but being around her gives him this sense of security and giddiness, he's excited to tell her everything, so he just goes with it, he's heard people talk about this feeling so it must be natural, something he openly indulges in, because Aoi is just so precious to him.
and he's seen blushing here, I know he's happy but those eyes can't hide anything haha he definitely looks very fond of her there, and his "or something" shows he has not planned this out but simply likes the idea of doing it with Aoi, even seeing if she'd like the shark gummies better because she picked up the shark candy, although he's willing to take a no from her and do it with Akane he still much prefers to do it with her (also he's said how gross Akane can be around Aoi so I presume it's sort of his goal to treat her nicely)
and he went as far to ask if she hates him, but he already knew the answer he just wanted to find out what she would respond with, because he of all people would know opinion does not equal an honest answer, but she did give an honest answer, because she also gives this answer in her card, she puts "nothing I particular" on both opinion slots
but it is cute that she chose Teru to send a card, I think that shows when she thinks of someone Teru is in the runnings, he's someone she thinks about because he comes up to her, that's what she remembers him for.
anyways Teru is always a gentleman yes, but I think he was quite aggressive with protecting Aoi
he got In the register's face really quickly, making sure Aoi was safe, because it's shown that Teru very much dislikes Aoi being treated badly, and again, asks her a question, except this time he just listens
Aoi seemed very dumbfounded that he would ask her this, because Aoi thinks nobody really cares for her, but she shares this with Teru, because he protected her, and after hearing this Teru tries to cheer her up, I'm sure he knows being upset is no good, especially with how upbeat of a person he is. so they make the gummies together, another moment with Aoi I'm sure he enjoyed.
now with the most popular theory working against TeruAoi is how Teru acted towards the severance. Teru went out looking for Akane because of his glasses, and started saying how he wasn't expecting to find them on the far shore, looking at Aoi, he never expected to see Aoi here again. he may have seemed to not care but I have a few ideas working in my favor.
Teru is an exorcist, when he was talking to Kou in chapter 97 we could see how hard it was growing up, he's delt with other kids being able to see supernaturals and going against him believing that it's their friend, it must have hurt Teru considering he has no friends, and has to exorcise it to protect them from danger they don't even know of. with Aoi he also never expected to see her again, the woman that makes him feel bright, he cares a lot but has been taught not to care, but after seeing her there he decided that he can save her, he will, he wants her back, desperately, but to get her back for Akane, in Teru's eyes, Aoi and Akane are good for each other, he does not agree with how Akane goes about it but he knows they love each other, that Teru has no chance compared to them. so instead of getting her back for himself he's retrieving the one he loves to be with another. I think what brung him to this conclusion is when they were walking in the tunnel, Aoi was sharing herself like she never has before, Akane and Aoi made promises for each other, Teru knew she wouldn't make it but after hearing that she had all these wishes she couldn't do he wanted to grant them for her, he knows that she will be happy with Akane, so he will save her, for Akane. now he planned to save her from the minute he saw her, but he decided to do it for Akane at the tunnel, that's just my speculation though, but he did plan on saving her, that's why he gave her the amulet
we could also see how upset Teru was after that, he seems tired and very sad looking, there's a lot of speculation on it being because of seeing Akane so wrecked over Aoi, but it can also be because of hearing Aoi and Akane talk about the future where he knows he's not a part of.
now now I know what you're wondering "what about the body language signs that usually say he's lying when he says he likes Aoi?" yes good point! I've seen people talk about how Teru's body language says he's lying, and yes, it could. but I think there's a different reason
but he's been shown to scratch at his cheek or hold the back of his neck as normal mannerisms, heck it was one of the first actions he did on panel when we first met Teru, this may not be a strong counter argument but I think he's just shy, he tries to cover his face in the shrine and he says this immediately planning on walking out. the first time he said this Akane wrote it off as a joke, but in the shrine Teru says he wants Aoi back, and Akane asks if he was serious, Teru completely ignores this dilemma of nobody knowing whether he's serious or not again, he's always avoiding how he really feels, and instead he moved on saying he has a dream, she's part of that dream, Akane has a guess but nothing that can fill in that blank. but Teru words it as "realizing" his dream, now this, again, is just my character speculation, but it's been shown that Teru never had an interest in being an exorcist, and wanted to do something different, but being a cool older brother sounded better than persuading anything, I bet Aoi makes him feel like he can do a lot of things he originally didn't think he could do.
I'd also like to talk about this little interaction, Akane says that he'll tell Aoi all about how useless Teru was, and this motivated him to a high level, with what he says here it seems that he could not stand being useless in the saving of her, he thinks Aoi should be with Akane but in no means wants to be invisible to her, he wants her to know that he helped.
well, there's also other extras adding to Teru being nice to Aoi and making Akane mad, this can also be AidaIro hinting towards their rivalry. Teru wants to go head to head for Aoi but ultimately thinks Akane is better for her, despite knowing he'd treat her very nicely. and we've all seen how Teru warmed up to Aoi in the latest chapters! he seems very attached to her, all in all I think they have built an interesting relationship, on both sides, Aoi has shown she believes nobody wants to get to know her but on the contrary I think she feels validated by Teru in an odd way, a way she'll never admit, I won't say it's love but I think she could really enjoy having Teru as a friend!
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