Atsushi grimaces yet again before the mirror. As he thought— the red uniform jacket looks horrible on him. It was supposed to be tailored to his size, but the bulky sleeves aren't doing wonders for his short arms at all. The blue jeans are straight-cut with the edges folded up twice over, even after the quick alteration job. They promised to replace the pants with custom-fit ones as soon as possible, but who knows how long that will take?

At least they let him keep his black fingerless gloves. The standard white ones would only be wasted on him, given how... bloody the work gets.

"Sighing again, Atsushi-kun?"

Tanizaki emerges from the other row of lockers, an eyebrow raised in amusement. Unlike Atsushi, he chose to tie his jacket around his waist, the dark red inner fabric contrasting well with his faded jeans. Today, he wears an off-white v-neck sweater instead of the usual black roundneck. The lighter shade brings out the color of his eyes better.

"Nice outfit, Tanizaki-san," Atsushi comments, by way of greeting.

"Oh, this? Naomi offered to dress me today," Tanizaki grins, a little pink coloring his cheeks. "She's always excited to see me off to work everyday, it's a little embarrassing, really."

"I heard. She's almost graduating from the Marrow Academy, right? Good old days." The three of them were born from the same bone marrow, and Naomi had taken to calling themselves siblings ever since they have been assigned to the same dorm.

Tanizaki laughs at the memory. "Kinda? Can't say I miss being whacked by a wooden sword, though!" Their macrophage teacher, Ozaki, is known to be very strict on the erythroblasts during RBC training, but for good reason and good results. Even now, Tanizaki refuses to admit it, but his time at the Academy definitely helped his work performance by large; the year-end Rookie Award he got was definitely not just for show.

"Same here," Atsushi agrees. "Do you think we'll get to pass by the spleen today?"

"I'd rather not," Tanizaki turns up his nose at the suggestion. "I'd like to go see the dendrites, though."

"Oooh," Atsushi hums curiously. "I heard Ranpo-san's been asking after you since the other day. Do you need a wingman?"

"L-Look, let's just get to work, okay? We're running late," Tanizaki huffs, going back to retrieve his hat. Atsushi puts on his own, a floppy red forage cap that completely covers his white bangs. This, too, the wardrobe department would replace sometime later along with his pants, but it would have to do for now.

"AN-5509," he recites to himself, inhaling deeply before putting on his game face. "Okay, let's go."

.

"Your oxygen for the day, sir," Atsushi enthusiastically hands off the sealed package to the recipient, who curtly signs the slip over the small counter. The cells in this apartment complex have been affected by a scrape wound nearby, and are now being kept awake for days on end to meet the rapid cell division quota. Must be stressful being an epithelial cell, Atsushi observes.

"Is there anything else?" the cell glares at him, near-bloodshot eyes accentuated by deep eyebags. Atsushi gives the cell a small smile as he bows, before pushing his trolley back to the elevator. Another trip to the lungs, before he can finally clock out.

All in a day's work, he thinks.

The nearest route to the lungs from where he is would require passage through the pterygoid plexus, an inconvenience Atsushi is more than willing to avoid during this time of the day due to the heavy foot traffic. He decides to use a venule located half a kilometer away; the extra walking would help develop his leg muscles while helping him get there faster.

Half an hour passes by in a flash as Atsushi let his mind wander while traversing the curved road. He slowly returns to reality as he notices more red blood cells in the open area. From the maxillary vein, it should be easier to get to the lungs now. He starts to pick up the pace once more; Tanizaki said he'd wait at the alveolus so they can clock out together.

Just then, the earth rumbles, then shakes more violently. Small cracks give way to an explosion, sending large chunks of concrete flying.

Atsushi, too, is sent flying back a few meters, landing face down with his ass sticking up. Before he could even scramble back up, the ground shakes again as loud footsteps approach. Then:

"Well, isn't this cozy? Just the right temperature, and plenty of nutrients, too!"

A sharp claw swipes across just a few centimeters from Atsushi's forehead, and he flinches hard, eyes widening in fear. At the center of the wreckage stands a gang of purple humanoid creatures with bladed tentacles, jeering and leering at the terrified cells looking on from the periphery. "We like it here," their leader declares smugly. "From now on, this area is ours!"

As if on cue, the other creatures spread out, rapidly sending out their blades in a circumferential fashion, causing the cells to run away en masse. From the periphery of his vision, Atsushi sees a platelet knocked over by the ensuing stampede. Adrenaline kicking in, he runs over and picks up the child, hugging them tightly as he weaves his way through the panicking crowd.

'Lungs, lungs,' he thinks to himself while ignoring the persistent hammering in his chest. He has to make it out of this alive with this child, at least!

Atsushi trips over a raised crack on the road. He rotates his body by instinct to land on his back, the resulting impact sending shockwaves of pain through his hips and spine. The platelet in his arms holds him tighter, wailing loudly. Atsushi desperately wills his legs to move, but they remain powerless. He grits his teeth through the pain and fear, trying not to cry. 'Move, Atsushi, dammit!'

The cold sweat suddenly drenching him, however, tells otherwise.

Two of the invading creatures rapidly approach them, bundles of thin tentacles pointed at them at the ready. Atsushi does not hear the incoming taunts, all other sound deafened by the rapid pounding of his heart. It can't end like this!

"Red blood cells run from bacteria, not fight them!"

"You'll never survive outside the marrow, you good-for-nothing blast!"

"You're no hero, AN-5509! When will you ever learn that?!"

No... no...

His eyes remain wide open as a large, pointed claw comes down at him fast.

"Antigen sighted."

Just then, a black dagger hits the tentacle, sending it off-course. The creature looks around frantically at the source of the offending blade, before a spurt of blood bursts from its back. The other one falls, too, not a second later. Atsushi could only gape at the swift extermination, both creatures lying dead with black blades buried in their backs.

A man wearing a tattered black cape over bloodied white military fatigues approaches them, his dirty combat boots making loud crunching noises on the ground. Atsushi rolls himself to his side in an effort to stand up, but is instead pulled up violently by his collar, causing him to almost drop the platelet in shock.

Jet black eyes glare intensely at him from beneath a white cap, and Atsushi could practically feel himself being burned by the full force of the man's presence. He gulps in anticipation as the man bellows:

"Fool! Why didn't you run away?! Do you really want to die that quickly?!"

Atsushi's throat is still too parched to make any sound. The man's strength betrays his short stature and very pale complexion, unruly chin-length black hair ending in tips of white only contributing to his ferocious glare. Atsushi's lips part as they quiver in fear; it is as if he is being thrown suddenly from the frying pan into the fire.

As soon as it started, however, it ended just as quickly.

The man's eyes narrow as they regard Atsushi with disgust. Atsushi could barely react before he is again thrown back to the ground. This time, he lands on his stomach, almost crushing the crying child in his arms. It takes a few moments before Atsushi remembers to breathe.

Static noise breaks through the crackling sound from burning buildings. The man unclips the radio from his belt and curtly gives a report:

"This is R-3192, 'Akutagawa,' of the Neutrophil Division. Threat has been eliminated."