It was a beautiful day in the bone marrow.
Today just so happened to be recruitment and initiation day for some of the myeloid cell progenitors—the day when young cells were given the chance to final mature into their adult forms. Reticulocytes were getting enucleated, monoblasts were ready to go out into the body as either macrophages or monocytes, and the band cells' nuclei finally segmented enough for them to become proper neutrophils.
The thing was, on this particular initiation day, a specific group of neutrophils consisting of cells numbering from U-2000 to U-3000, were allowed to progress.
Which meant, among the band cells who were allowed to attend to their duties in the body, U-2001, 2048, and 2626 were allowed to graduate.
This event meant that for the first time in his short life, U-4989 was going to be all by himself until the body required more immune cells originating from the bone marrow.
Which, resulted in a very, very, VERY disgruntled mood for the young band cell.
It wasn't like U-4989 was a crybaby or overly emotional—no, seriously, he's not. Shut up, those aren't tears in his eyes and he's definitely not feeling like there's a hole getting punched in the middle of his cytosol. Nope. Not at all. There is definitely nothing wrong with him at all.
Zilch.
Nada.
You don't believe him?
Maybe there is something wrong with his eyes! Okay! Maybe he's just been hit with the sudden realization that he's all alone in the world and all his friends are gone and—oh my gosh! He's tearing up! He's crying!
Okay! Fine! He gives!
His life was over before it had even officially begun!
Why was he born so late? Why was he paired with a bunch of white blood cells who were generations older than him? Why did they have to graduate so early? And—?
His body throbbed at how heartbroken he felt.
Oh, the pain!
He could almost feel himself going through apoptosis...that's all right. He can just cry himself to sleep once he trudged back to the barracks, contemplate the meaning of existence—
"Excuse me, Mr. Band Cell, what are you doing?"
There was a young girl standing in front of him. She might have been deemed cute, elegant even, yet there was a look of irritation on her features, the very look of someone who really didn't want to be here. Geeze, she had the look of a person who took herself too seriously. This person wasn't someone 4989 would usually associate himself with. However, for all the negativity and pessimism that the girl was exuding, she still stood by him looking a little…concerned?
Upon further observation, the rapidly maturing white blood cell noticed that the cell in front of him wore that one stereotypical uniform erythroblasts usually wore: the red dress, white apron, and that hat with the pompom. Ooohhh, he would really like to play with that pompom, but his supervisors always denied him that privilege. Even when he was younger, he always wanted to ask at least one of the erythroblasts to play with or at least let him borrow one of their hats just to touch it, but he never got the chance.
Such a waste of a grand opportunity.
Wait a second! Further inspection revealed that there was something off about this particular red blood cell in training. For one, she was simply...older than most erythroblasts. Her face, while softer in comparison to older cells, lacked the baby fat and the chubbiness that most young red blood cells had. For two, she looked much too serious—most young red blood cells frolicked around with others of their own kind. Hmm, perhaps she wasn't an erythroblast? Then what—?
The question must have appeared on his face because the young female cell simply sighed before she gestured to herself.
"I'm an erythrocyte in training: a reticulocyte." She spoke with a bland, monotone type of voice. U-4989 couldn't help but think of his former classmates, U-1146 and U-2001.
And just like that—
He began to cry!
Again!
Before the tears in his eyes could obstruct his vision, he caught sight of the so-called reticulocyte looking at him in what appeared to be a disdainful expression. If there was one thing that absolutely loathed, it was that he didn't like bothering people. If she was at all discomforted by his depressed demeanor...that just wouldn't do at all!
"I-I'm sorry," he cried aloud, the backs of his hands coming up to wipe away the fresh onslaught of tears. "It's just that...I'm one of the last in my batch to graduate and all of my squad mates are gone and-and—!"
Let it never be said that U-4989 didn't care.
As the tears kept falling, the band cell heard a rustle of movement in front of him before he felt something soft brush the area under his eyes and around his cheeks. In shock, he opened his eyes and even with the telltale fogginess of tears hindering his vision, he could tell that the reticulocyte from before was attending to him.
"W-why—?"
"It's unseemly for one of the cells of the body, especially one who is about to be deployed, to be seen in such a state."
His face colored.
"I...I mean, you don't have to clean me—"
"You're right, I don't," the reticulocyte rudely interrupted him. "However, if I were to lend you my handkerchief, then there is a heavy possibility that I would never see it again. We may originate in the same bone marrow, but I'm due to graduate in a few hours and even if we are not, this is still a big place. This way," she gestured with her hand that didn't hold the handkerchief, "I get to keep my property and you no longer disgrace the body with such displays of unnecessary emotion."
Oh, how cold!
Still, the defenders of the body raised him and their teachings included the welfare and safety of other cells. It wouldn't do for him to get so worked up about something so trivial.
Quite suddenly, the feel of cloth disappeared from his cheeks. Although he felt better after his crying session and the girl's words grounded him (despite her callous demeanor), he craved the warmth that had come from the reticulocyte. Still, he had manners and it was definitely frowned upon for not thanking her for such a...pragmatic kindness.
"Thank you, Miss Reticulocyte."
For a second, the red blood cell in training looked at him—just a mere stare that had him thinking he had done something wrong.
Just when he thought that the girl would leave and ignore him, she inclined her head slightly before murmuring, "You're welcome, Mr…?"
"Band Cell," he supplied.
"Mr. Band Cell," she repeated with certainty, "you are most welcome."`
She turned as if to walk away, but the band cell desperately wished that he could end this meeting on a happier note. So, he asked:
"What brings you out here, anyway?"
Without saying a word, the reticulocyte showed him.
She pointed lazily at the playground behind the both of them. Most of the time, the playground was simply just that, a playground. However, during periods of when the red blood cells would start their recruitment and transition process, the playground was transformed into a series of mazes—a culmination of all that the red blood cells were taught. If the red blood cells applied their knowledge skillfully and corrected, they were allowed to take part in the most sacred of ceremonies: enucleation. U-4989 wasn't all too sure what happened during that time, but he was sure that it was very important because immediately after, the reticulocytes were pronounced as erythrocytes and immediately set to work throughout the circulatory system.
"Ah, you're going to graduate soon?"
She nodded as she said, "Of course. And by the looks of things, you are about to graduate soon as well."
Silence between the two of them permeated the air and before U-4989 could smack his face silly for even thinking that he could salvage a moment that was obviously cursed from the very beginning, the red blood cell muttered something under her breath.
"S-sorry? I couldn't quite—"
"Best of luck to you upon graduation, Mr. Band Cell."
Ah.
"Best of luck to you as well, Miss Reticulocyte! You'll make a great erythrocyte one day!"
Perhaps it was a trick of the light or his own troublesome emotion meddling with his nucleus, but he thought that he saw a small crooked smile (so small, so cute, so unlike her) brighten up her face. It was the first smile he had seen on her face throughout the entire time of their interaction, but it was enough for him to smile as well.
In fact, this was probably the first smile he had smiled in a while.
And that thought made him smile wider as they parted ways.