"Saibou no hanashi" - One Shot Collection

He had to use gloves, they had become part of his uniform. The rules regarding their uniforms had gotten stricter, recently, and now, there were even rumors that they would soon receive walkie-talkies and trackers. After each cold or stomach infection, the defenses of the body would be fortified and that always meant some change. The most recent one had been that the platelets had to be dressed in sky blue, saying that it was in order to make them more visible and avoid accidents. "Finally an initiative for the sake of these cells," thought 1117, walking around. He wasn't feeling very comfortable wearing these gloves yet, it was odd to not perceive his knife's coldness anymore. He scratched his head and muttered curses under his breath, since not even this was feeling right with a glove. "Stupid gloves." He let out a deep sigh and continued walking. It was now so boring since Ae3803 had been given another route and wasn't crossing his way anymore. He used to have fun with her, doing inoffensive pranks when she wasn't aware of his presence, like blowing into her ear and making her do a jump, or drawing something stupid into her notebook when she wasn't looking. Sometimes he doodled a "mini-1117" with a sign saying "Now property of 1117" or an Ae with a question mark, supposing that she was lost, or T-Killer dressed as a macrophage. It was making her laugh, however, she still scolded him after that for wasting her pages. He was always promising her to get her another notebook and, in the end, they were walking together and talking about their day or other simple things. And one peaceful day, the pages did end. There wasn't a lot to do, so they stopped for a drink. And then he did something without even knowing why. It was just an impulse, a "stupid impulse" as he was calling dumb actions that he was doing to her without thinking: He grabbed her hand and wrote "1117" on it. "Why did you do that?" "No clue, I'm bored," he replied and started to draw a flower and a smiley around it, until she ripped the pen out of his hand, frowning. "Come on, don't get angry. You can do the same to me," 1117 offered, lifting his sleeve. Ae hesitated for a bit and then agreed, writing "Ae3803 was here" on his arm and adding a heart to her code like a signature. "You still owe me a notebook," she murmured, throwing her empty soda can into the trash, in order to head home. 1117 took the pen back and wrote under her words "I owe Ae3803 a notebook" on his arm. "This will help me to not forget it," said the white soldier, poking her cheek with the other end of the pen. "You've gotten a bit annoying, you know," she commented on the way home. Since they had found each other again, they had become friends, good friends. So it wasn't a problem to point out things like that to each other. "Yep." "And I bet it makes you proud, doesn't it?" Ae joked, taking out her keys, which was usually their signal to part. But 1117 didn't do the gesture with his cap to say goodbye to her like always, instead shoving the door open with his foot. She was about to object, but didn't have time, since he grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside. Without understanding, how or why, he immediately started writing on her once again, this time on her forearm. "What's the matter with you?" "Nothing, I'm just upset," he replied, still continuing his doing. "Stop doodling on me!" "I'm not just doodling whatsoever, it's something important, an important note," he justified himself, letting her in peace and slumping down on the small sofa in the tiny living room. The erythrocyte looked at what he had written and fell silent: "Forever Ae3803" "I don't understand," she finally broke the silence, staring at the words on her rosy skin.  "Do you know how I found you?" 1117 asked, looking at the ceiling. "I said that I would be able to remember you even in the next or the two next lives, and I did... I went to several erythrocyte-bases, but there was another change: you weren't working in squads anymore, so the AE-squad didn't exist. And I wondered: 'Shit! How should I find her now?', and did the simplest thing: asking around for you. But that wasn't easy, 'cause your kind's fearing me. Finally, I had enough, snuck into the T-Helper's office, looked for your name, and found you in the end." "That was cute," she said, blushing, and sat down next to him (after having moved his feet from the sofa). "And suddenly I started to think: What'll happen to us when you'll be the one to start over? What happens if they decide to change your code? How should I find you, then?" "Hey, don't…" "So stay forever Ae3803, I don't know how, but just do it, so I can always find you," 1117 exclaimed, turning his gaze to the completely red-faced young woman. She was moved, but still a bit embarrassed by his straightforwardness. He continued to stare directly into her eyes. "Ah, eh, uh… A-And why were you upset? Because of this?" "Partly yes, but in reality because you're going to start another route tomorrow." "Only for two days." "Which's an eternity for me," the white soldier replied, opening the pen and casually drawing a smiley on her neck. She took it away from him in order to do the same. "Enough already! Do you know how hard it is to wash off your nonsense?" "That's what makes it fun," he joked, taking back the pen and leaving a line on Ae's face. Now she was seriously annoyed and about to hit him with a pillow, but was suddenly stopped in a very unexpected way: he grabbed her once again and gave her a brief kiss on the cheek. "I'm serious, stay Ae3803 forever," the neutrophil muttered, pressing his face against her neck and hugging her, for the first time, like a helpless guy asking for affection. The red blood cell instinctively removed his cap and started to caress his hair in silence. In the end, the two of them lost track of time and fell asleep. So now, the neutrophil was wandering around, annoyed and blaming the gloves for his bad mood, even though he knew that in reality it was all due to not being able to see Ae3803. "Stupid gloves…" Suddenly he felt someone blow into his ear and got startled. "Quit sulking already," the erythrocyte mocked him, taking him by surprise. "Sekkekkyuu… And what about your route?" "I finished earlier. After the delivery of this basket, I'll be free," she replied, taking the task sheet hanging on his neck and ripping it into two parts.  "The hell are you doing?" "Didn't they tell you? You won't be working by tasks anymore… They're going to implement a new rotating system, so you'll live longer," Ae replied cheerfully, really happy to bring him such good news. Actually, he didn't really mind dying over and over again, but at least just once he wanted to live long enough to spend a bit more time with her. "Awesome! Eh? Why do you have a pillow on your head?" "Don't even mention it, that's the new cap of our uniform. And I also heard that the next generation will have a completely red uniform…" she snorted. "Well, maybe changes aren't that bad after all." "They're necessary." "About that from the other day…" 1117 fell silent for a moment and indicated to her to follow him into an empty hallway. "About what I said then: it's okay if your code does change, I will still find you somehow." "You have such little faith in me." "Huh?" Ae put her hands reproachfully on her hips.  "Do you think you're the only one who can go look for me? I will find you myself," she answered with a slight blush on her cheeks and a sweet, but shy smile. Their friendship had obviously become something more at that point, it was a sweet and innocent, but also incredibly strong feeling. A love still frowned upon by others, for being cells of different functions, despite living in the same world. But at least, for a few moments, these two beings fated to meet over and over in each life, could share a gentle and loving secret kiss, far away from the rest and their absurd prejudices.