Chapter 9: The Book
The group made their way back from AE-3803's delivery in the small intestine. Macrophage had chosen to stay behind and chat with Dendritic Cell, and Basophil had split off from the group to search on his own, in case it wasn't at the Normal Cell's house. It made sense, they would cover much more ground if they weren't all in one group, but White Blood Cell wondered how much he would actually be able to search.
In any case, they were making good time up from the small intestine. After picking up more oxygen from the lungs, they continued on towards the throat, where the lymph nodes were located. Fortunately, there was an order of oxygen due in the same building as the cell they were planning to see.
Lymph Nodes: small structures in the body that act as "filters" against germs. They also contain Killer T Cells until they are to be deployed.
Eosinophil was carrying Backwards Cap-kun on her back. Despite her lean frame, she never showed any sign of tiredness or difficulty carrying him. She seemed to have grown very fond of the little platelet.
White Blood Cell smiled to himself. The hero worship is probably helping. Eosinophil had easily been flustered when her peers gave her praise, but when it was coming from an adorable little platelet, she seemed much more open to it. She seemed more ready to believe it.
U-1146 had always thought of Eosinophil as a little sister. She was a part of his friend group, with 2626, 4989, and 2048. They were like a family. Still, 1146 suspected that Eosinophil may have grown a little tired of being the "baby" of the group. With Backwards Cap-kun, she could feel like a big sister for once.
As for himself, he didn't mind Leader-chan riding on his shoulders one bit.
Soon, the group arrived at the throat, very close to the lymph nodes.
Red Blood Cell eyed the entrance to the lymph nodes themselves and sighed.
"What's wrong?" asked 1146.
"If I had a piece of glucose for every time I got yelled at for accidentally trying to enter the lymph nodes, I would be a very happy erythrocyte."
White Blood Cell chuckled. "Well, if Memory T Cell treats you rudely, I can just mention some details from those photographs..."
Red Blood Cell looked shocked. "You wouldn't dare!"
White Blood Cell grinned and shrugged. "You know I wouldn't. I'm not evil. Still, the look on his face if I even let slip that I knew about it, heh."
Red Blood Cell looked over into the lymph node. She could see Naive T Cell trainees running laps.
"I don't know what I've been told!"
"T CELLS THEY ARE MIGHTY BOLD!"
"I don't know but it's been said!"
"T CELLS THEY WILL KILL GERMS DEAD!"
"Sound off!
"ONE, TWO."
"Sound, off!"
"THREE, FOUR."
"Sound off!"
"ONE, TWO. THREE FOUR!"
In the middle of the field within the training grounds, the black Killer T Cell flag was flying on a tall pole. A white "T" inside of a circle, itself inside of a hexagon, stood out starkly on the dark banner.
Standing still on the edge of the field, Red Blood Cell saw Memory T eyeing the Naive T trainees. He glanced over at her and did a double take. He raised two fingers to point at his eyes, then at her, indicating that he was watching her. Red Blood Cell had no doubt that he was making sure she did not walk into the lymph node… again.
They reached the apartment building adjacent to the T Cells' training ground. They climbed up the stairs, Red Blood Cell in the front, Eosinophil and Backwards Cap-kun in the middle, and 1146 with Leader-chan bringing up the rear.
They reached the second floor and walked down the hallway. They stopped at a door that was a slightly different color than the neighbors', while Red Blood Cell continued to walk on. Her delivery was farther down the hall.
Eosinophil knocked on the door. Would this be it? Would her book finally, finally be here?
The door opened to reveal an unassuming Normal Cell. His his shaggy hair was uncombed and sticking out at odd angles, and his plain white t-shirt was simply adorned with the word "CELL." He seemed confused to see three immune cells at his door.
"Uh, hello. Hey, Mr. Neutrophil. What… is something wrong?"
"We were just wondering if you saw a lactic acid bacterium come by with a book," Eosinophil said. She pulled out the photo of the bacterium and gave it to the Cell Boy. "It looks like this."
The Cell Boy looked at the photograph. "Sorry, I haven't seen the lactic acid bacteria since I went to the intestines with Mr. Neutrophil. I haven't seen that book either. Sorry."
Eosinophil pulled down her cap and looked at the ground. "It's no problem. Sorry to bother you."
She immediately turned and walked away from the group, running down the stairs. From her shoulders, Backwards Cap-kun asked where they were going, but Eosinophil didn't answer.
White Blood Cell watched her go. "Eosinophil!" he called out, but she didn't look back.
...
White Blood Cell found Eosinophil sitting on the ground outside. Hugging her knees to her chest, she stared blankly at the ground. Backwards Cap-kun was gently shaking her shoulder, trying to encourage her.
"Don't worry, Big Sister, we'll find your book soon. Come on, we gotta keep searching."
Eosinophil buried her face into her knees. She ignored Backwards Cap-kun's renewed attempts to rouse her.
"Eosinophil, what's wrong?" asked White Blood Cell.
Eosinophil didn't respond, aside from a muffled "Hmpf."
White Blood Cell lowered Leader-chan and knelt next to Eosinophil. "Come on, it'll be okay. We'll find it, we just need to keep looking."
Eosinophil looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "No, don't you see. There are trillions of cells in this body. I'll probably never find it." She dropped her gaze, pouting. "Sorry for dragging you all into this."
"But Big Sister, we're happy to help!" Leader-chan said.
Eosinophil got up and brushed off her legs. She sighed and then started to walk away.
"Eosinophil-"
"Please, 1146, I just… I just wanna be alone right now." She turned and walked away quickly.
U-1146 felt his mitochondria sink as he watched her go. He knew this was difficult for her, not only losing her precious book, but to encounter so many setbacks in the course of finding it. Combined with the fact that someone might try to pry into her private thoughts… Well, for Eosinophil, that would be a very painful thought indeed.
Red Blood Cell emerged from the building's entrance just a few moments later. "Oh, where's Eosinophil?" she asked.
White Blood Cell looked at her sadly. "She needs to be alone right now. This search is very difficult for her…"
...
Eosinophil strolled over to an area with many picnic tables and stalls. She ordered a hot cup of tea from one of the vendors, then she moved to sit down. As she looked around for a vacant spot, a flash of white caught her eye.
"Eosinophil-chan! Eosinophil-chan!"
Seated next to an auburn-haired erythrocyte, U-4989 was waving cheerily to her, smiling broadly. Even despite her gloomy mood, Eosinophil felt her spirits rise a little. U-4989 was always good at cheering people up. She made her way over to him. Even though she wasn't up for social interaction, it would be extremely rude to just pretend like she didn't see him.
"Hello, 4989."
"Eosinophil-chan! I'm so glad to see you! I was looking for you, Basophil told me to give this to you!"
He handed her a package wrapped in brown paper. Is this…?
"I'm not sure what it is, but it sounded important. Then again, anything that guy says sounds like a matter of life or death." He turned to the erythrocyte seated next to him. "One time, I was behind him in line when he ordered tea. It sounded like that tea would decide the fate of the world."
The erythrocyte next to him laughed, playing absentmindedly with her long plait of hair. Eosinophil didn't notice her, however. She was too busy staring at this suspiciously book-sized package
Eosinophil looked up at 4989. "Basophil-senpai gave this to you? How did he get it?"
This time, the erythrocyte spoke up. "He mentioned an eosinophil gave it to him. I guess one of your colleagues wanted to give it to you, but had to take care of something else first."
Eosinophil looked at the erythrocyte, her mind running a mile a minute. "He got it from an eosinophil?" she thought. But Basophil-senpai's words often have double meanings. Does he mean he took it from me? Eosinophil didn't know what to think.
"I should probably get back to my deliveries. See you, 4989!" Turning to Eosinophil, she said, "It was nice to meet you, Eosinophil-sama." Bowing to Eosinophil, she made her way back to the blood vessel.
"See you, AC!" 4898 waved cheerily after her. Looking back to Eosinophil, he smiled. "I was just hanging out with her on my break. I should get back to patrolling. See ya!" He gave her a wink and was off.
Eosinophil sat at the table alone. Looking around, she carefully opened the package. Inside was…
No…
Yes!
Her book!
She finally found her book!
She ran her gloved hand over the pink cover adorned with red flowers. It had been a very long time since she had first gotten it, and it had a few scratches and some wear, but it was her book. She ran her thumb down the spiral binding. Plink-plink-plink!
She opened the cover to the first page. In a child's large, shaky handwriting, the first page said simply: This book belongs to EO-6677.
A slip of paper fell out from the back cover. Frowning, Eosinophil picked it up. It wasn't lined like the pages in her notebook. It wasn't white either, it was actually a light brown. She flipped it over. In loopy, elegant cursive, there was a note addressed to her.
Dear Kouhai,
Upon my travels I chanced upon your book. The warrior EO-5178 was in possession of it. According to him, the lactic acid bacterium handed it to him shortly after the battle. When we met, he promptly handed it over to me.
Though I was curious, I did not look inside at all. These are your thoughts, and are not meant for the eyes of anyone else until you decide you are ready. Even the greatest poets have had to make rewrites.
Do not be so timid, little one. We cells are all one in this body. We should always endeavor to lift others up. If I am not mistaken, your peers would be more than happy to do so.
Keep writing.
Sincerely,
Your Senpai,
BA-0808
Eosinophil sniffled and wiped a tear from her eye as she finished reading the letter. Even after all this time, she still looked up to Basophil for guidance. Even now, he was her mentor, her senpai. She may not have had a crush on him anymore, but all at once she felt like a little myelocyte all over again.
She ruffled through a pocket in her jacket and found a paper clip. Tenderly, she clipped the letter to the back cover, so that it wouldn't fall out. Now, she could reread it whenever she liked.
She took a sip of her tea and smiled. Then, clutching her book to her chest, she rose from the table and began walking back the way she had come.
She should tell her friends she had found it, so that they knew they wouldn't have to keep looking.
With an extra spring in her step, she started to jog back to the lymph nodes. She couldn't wait to share the good news with her friends.
A/N: I would like to give a huge shoutout to Mira Avis, another author here. The blood cell seen with U-4989 above is her OC, as seen in her stories Realisations and Hearts and Minds. Her stories are amazing, and she is a very kind person who has given me lots of ideas and info for new stories! I highly recommend checking her out, her fictions