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Footsteps hurriedly rushed through the intestinal tract back towards the cafeteria section.
1146's mind was racing just as much as his feet were.
"I was only supposed to be gone for a minute!" he thought to himself, "Instead I got sidetracked and left Red Blood Cell and her friends alone without even saying anything!"
He knew that he still had a job to do. But the thought of looking like he had disappeared on AE3803 brought nothing but worry and regret to him.
"I can't believe I did that! I have to make it up to her somehow!"
As soon as he reached the cafeteria, he quickly looked around for the nearest tea machine. And once he spotted one, he ran towards it and impatiently pressed the order for four teas. He placed them onto a tray and carried them as he checked to see if the red blood cells were there in the cafeteria.
He soon noticed them sitting at one of the tables.
As carefully as he could balance the tray, he hurried over to them as best he could while trying to form an apology in his head.
"Sorry I'm late…" he apologized as he walked over to them.
AE3803 and the others turned to notice him.
Her expression softened and her shoulders eased in relief to see him.
"You sure took an awful long time there," DB5963 commented, still resting his head on his hand.
1146 flattened his mouth as his eyes turned away, wondering if it really was that long.
AE3803 glanced over and noticed him before facing the other two.
"Oh, I'm sure White Blood Cell has a reason," she reasoned.
Her words originally came out rather confidently. But they soon trailed off into a more uncertain and doubtful change in tone as she turned back towards him.
"…Didn't you?"
This was his chance. But the disappointment he had for himself prevented him from sounding so sure.
"Ye—yeah," he uttered, "I… I ended up having something else to do…"
The red blood cells all looked at him. His lack of confidence seemed to have only made the situation worse than it really was.
"We thought that you just wanted to leave us," NT4201 began to explain, "So we decided to continue on without you. But to be fair, I really didn't expect much from immune cells."
It was then when 1146 noticed the teas already in front of them. On top of that, the teas weren't the typical type that he and AE3803 usually got together.
"I—I see…" he stammered in a low tone, setting the tray down onto the table and sitting down next to AE3803.
His eyes stayed down at the cups of tea on the tray in front of him before glancing over at their teas.
AE3803 noticed him and realized what he must have been thinking.
"I—I wanted to make them feel more welcome," she explained, "And he said that his old body used to have this kind of tea. And since my kohai wanted to try it too, I got curious."
"It's… It's alright, Red Blood Cell," 1146 said, "I… I probably would've wanted to try it too."
She picked up her cup and offered it to him.
"Would you like to try some of it?" she asked, "It is pretty good."
He simply looked over at it for a moment before accepting some of it. He took a sip from the straw. It was very sweet, almost like pure glucose. It was nothing like the earthy bitterness of the greener teas that he preferred. And he wondered if she liked it more than the green teas.
He cleared his throat.
"It is," he said, forcing himself to smile.
She gave him a light smile back and sipped as he glanced over at the teas he had. Four cups, three of them now rendered useless.
DB5963 became curious of the green cups.
"Hey, um, White Blood Cell?" he began to ask, "I never had any of those green teas before. What do you reckon they taste like?"
"Oh. Not as sweet as those are."
"Oh, come on, White Blood Cell," AE3803 told him, "You tend to make mine just fine."
"'Just fine,'" he thought to himself.
Not "perfect." Not "just the way I like it." "Just fine."
But before he could respond, NT4201 spoke first.
"No offense, senpai," she told AE3803, "But… Do you just like those green teas because of him?"
She was caught by surprise as she made an awkward sound, her cheeks now flustered and warm. Her words stammered into an incoherent jumble.
"Are you sayin' that she and him are together that way?" DB5963 asked, gesturing at them.
"For some reason, my senpai seems to view the immune cells in such high regards," NT4201 explained, "Especially this one in particular."
"White Blood Cell has done a lot for me whenever I needed him," AE3803 defended.
"Like almost standing you up just now…"
She opened her mouth as if to speak. But no words came to her. There was nothing she could think of that could counter that right away.
"I had to clear out an invasion of campylobacters out in the small intestine," 1146 finally said, "It occurred when I really was on my way to get the tea."
NT4201 was not surprised.
"Figures…" she merely said, taking another sip of her tea, "Immune cells like neutrophils always seek out violence like ruthless hunters, even during supposed time off."
She set her tea back down and continued.
"I understand that you white blood cells do it to protect the body. It's your job to do so. But I'm sure that there must've been plenty of other immune cells to deal with it. It would've been dealt with anyway whether or not you got involved."
1146 simply stayed quiet. Reflecting back on the situation, he actually nearly made it worse before making it better. What if the campylobacters didn't fall into his trap? What if they had killed the hostage anyway? What if they didn't find the Peyer's Patch after all? What then? He wouldn't have saved the body. And he would've just been late for nothing.
And he noticed that even AE3803 looked pretty upset. As if she had automatically been cast aside by his actions. He had done it before. But he was fairly certain that her patience must've worn thin after all that.
His jaw tightened as he glanced back down.
"This here White Blood Cell must really prioritize his job…" DB5963 commented as he leaned back in his chair.
"Yeah. He… He does," AE3803 agreed in a quiet voice with her eyes lowered slightly.
1146 could read that tone. She was upset. And he had caused that.
He watched her as she stirred the straw around in the cup, moving the ice inside around. A soft sound escaped her as her eyes lowered even more.
He tried to move just a little closer towards her. However, before he could even say anything to her, she stood up from her seat without acknowledging him.
"I guess we should all get back to work right now," she suggested, her voice sounding forced as she tried to keep herself from being downhearted.
"Yeah, I think I got the gist of how these intestines work," DB5963 commented, "Ain't all that different than my last body."
He and NT4201 stood up as well.
"A tour was nice, but I think I'd rather learn from actual experience," NT4201 commented.
The two of them began to head back to their jobs.
AE3803 stayed behind for a moment.
"Are you going back to work too, White Blood Cell?" she asked.
"In a little bit," he answered, looking down at the tea, "I'm just going to finish this first."
"All of them?"
"Ye—yeah…"
She took one of the cups.
"To make it a little easier so you don't have too much."
She then walked off as he just watched her. And when she was out of his sight, he glanced down at the leftover tea in front of him. But he didn't drink them right away.
Just a little later, 1146 returned to his patrol.
He tried to keep his vigilance. But he couldn't help but be distracted in thought.
At the end of the blood vessel, he noticed a couple other neutrophils conversing briefly to themselves.
"There's some reports of activity over in the left side of the liver," one of them said, "I'll go and check it out. I'll alert you if anything changes."
"Understood," the other acknowledged, "I'll check the right side if you need me."
The two of them then parted off to their respective routes.
1146 watched and his mouth flattened. Such planned coordination. Simple yet effective. He then reflected on how his conversation was like with AE3803.
"Uh, I know. Why don't I go get us some tea? I'll only be a minute."
"That'd be great! Thanks!"
No wonder she probably thought he had simply gone and left from the awkward situation that had triggered the idea. Especially when he had been thorough on his whereabouts before.
He leaned against the side of the wall of the corridor, his head resting on his forearm as he stared at the wall.
"I know it wasn't like I knew those campylobacters were going to happen," he muttered to himself, "But… Why do I feel like I got sidetracked by it when I told her I'd be right back?"
"Maybe because you're a bigger moron than I thought you were."
1146 turned towards the gruff voice. His eyes narrowed.
It was Killer T. He had his arms crossed with a stern look in his eyes.
"How many times do I need to tell you that we immune cells have only one objective in life?" he berated, "You really are still so starry-eyed over that red blood cell instead of wondering when your next kill is. It's sickening to know you'd rather kiss her than have that knife of yours kissing some bacterium's throat."
"I never said that I'd ever abandon my duties, Killer T."
"Save it! Your love-struck and broody mood right now is saying everything right now, neutrophil! You're on patrol and you're staring at a wall thinking about some red blood cell. If bacteria came around that corner, how long would it take you to notice?"
1146 just glanced away.
"I just didn't want to make it seem like I'd stood her up."
Killer T just scoffed.
"You owe her nothing! Even that little candy-ass performance you did in order to get those bacteria trapped over in Peyer's Patch served a better purpose than you wanting to be all sappy and submissive towards some red blood cell. You're an embarrassing disappointment to immunity…"
At this point, 1146 didn't push the argument any further. He already had faced a hard lesson on not keeping his mouth shut past a certain point with Killer T. He just stayed quiet as he turned his head away from him.
Killer T stared at him for a few seconds before realizing that he had nothing else to say.
"You did your job back there. So stop acting like you committed some crime because you kept the body alive. That lack of a killer instinct is going to cost you your life someday if you're not willing to keep it sharp and prioritize a single red blood cell…"
His words came through as both a warning as well as a threat.
And with that, Killer T just stormed off, leaving 1146 feeling worse than he already was.
He watched as he left. As if to make sure he would be gone. Once he was alone, he took in a deep breath and exhaled before resuming his patrol for the rest of the day.
His problem was still unresolved.
Close towards the end of his patrol, 1146 notices two red blood cells meeting after their shifts.
"Hey, sorry I'm late!" one apologized to the other as he quickly approached the other, "The last delivery took longer than I thought it'd be."
"Oh, that's alright," the other said, "I know how some routes can be really unpredictable. Especially if some constriction happens."
The two erythrocytes then casually laughed it off and continued on their way together.
1146 witnessed it all.
They hadn’t been upset that one of them was late. They just knew why.
He stared downwards on the pathway for a minute before heading off towards the pulmonary artery.
It was already the end of the day shift by the time 1146 had arrived at the artery. He sat over at a bench where blood cells passed by. In his hands were two cups of freshly-made tea. And there, he watched as multiple red blood cells hauled boxes of carbon dioxide towards the lungs. He waited patiently for one in particular.
Several minutes passed.
The lines of red blood cells grew lighter as the body began resting into night. The need for heavy erythrocyte traffic had begun to ease and gradually thinned.
He glanced down at the cups of tea in his hands.
"Maybe I missed her…" he wondered.
After a few seconds, a reflection of AE3803 appeared into the tea.
"White Blood Cell?" she asked.
He immediately looked up and noticed her there in front of him.
"Have you… Have you been waiting for me?" she asked.
He cleared his throat.
"A bit, yeah. I… I thought it would be my turn this time."
"O—oh…" she uttered as she glanced away.
He noticed and moved over slightly.
"Care to join me, Red Blood Cell?" he invited in a gentle tone.
A hint of warm pink touched her cheeks before she sat down next to him.
He handed one of the teas to her.
For a moment, all she did was stare at it in wonder and surprise at the offering.
"I promised you tea," he told her.
AE3803 hesitated for a fraction of a second before finally accepting it. She looked at it briefly, her mouth flattened.
"Thank you," she finally said, still staring into the green liquid.
Her voice was quiet. As if there was still something bothering her.
1146 subtly watched her reaction. He noticed that she didn't drink the tea right away.
For a few seconds, there was only silence between the two of them.
"I'm sorry about earlier," he finally spoke.
She looked over at him.
"I wasn't trying to leave you or make you think you were any less important to me," he explained, "Campylobacters really did attack the small intestines when I was on my way to get the tea. And it was something that I couldn't simply ignore."
She then stared back at the tea. Her expression was lowered.
He glanced at her in the corner of his eye before looking forward.
"I… I understand if you no longer trust me after that, Red Blood Cell. I understand if you're still upset with me. And I wouldn't blame you if you were still hurt."
Hearing them said out loud, his words came out more unpleasant than he thought they would.
She paused for a painful moment that felt much longer than it really was.
"I… I really was a bit worried that something happened to you, White Blood Cell," she said, "I even thought you might've gotten lost. Or… Or even worse, really badly hurt. Because I know you wouldn't just take so long by simply getting some tea."
She then glanced over at him.
"The thought of that really did hurt me," she continued.
His eyes met with hers. He felt a sense of guilt for causing that discomfort to her.
However she then leaned against him, causing him to move his arm behind her.
"But I was so relieved to see you come back," she said in a soft tone, "And… I still do trust you, White Blood Cell. I just don't want to have another instance where I worry about you because you mean so much to me."
1146 couldn't help but hold her shoulder and lean his head with hers.
"You mean so much to me too, Red Blood Cell," he whispered.
AE3803 made a soft sound as she smiled, drinking some of the tea. She had the cup fondly cradled in her hands.
"You know," she began to say, "About earlier with the tea… This kind might not be as sweet as that new one I tried. But…"
She glanced up at him.
"…I do still enjoy it with you because it's always something special we share between us," she continued, "And that's much sweeter than any tea can do."
His expression then softened from her words. And he gently embraced her closer.
"No tea is sweeter than you, Red Blood Cell…" he whispered as he pressed his lips against her cheek.
"Or you," she coyly added, turning to face him for a tender kiss.
For the rest of the evening, the two of them sat together on the bench, enjoying not only the tea, but each other.
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