Legend:

Sword – narration

"Sword" – person speaking

'Sword' – person's thoughts

Chapter 1: Reawakening II

The still nameless redhead entered the mess hall last, drawing all the occupants' attention, many people staring at the newcomer. Surprised by the reaction of the other children around him, the 12-year-old boy then realizes something critical he missed earlier.

'Why… are the other kids around here all girls..? Apart from that annoyed looking man in a lab coat at the other side of the room, I'm the only male in this mess hall.' The boy thought to himself. He took another glance at the purple-haired girl whom he felt he somehow shared a connection with, but this time the girl and her brown-haired friend noticed and approached him.

"Hey, you there, what's your name? I've never seen you around here before, so you must have been brought here last night, right? This is the first time I've seen those scientists bring in a boy though, so you must be pretty special huh?" The purple haired girl's orange eyes bore into the boy, demanding answers, yet the redhead was frozen, staring blankly back.

"Oh, Shirou-san is in your first year of high school? I'm only in third year of middle school, so you're my Senpai, then. Please take care of me!"

The suddenly-pained redhead winced, holding his hand to his head, feeling a headache along with a suddenly much less vague memory bursting into his consciousness. 'Who… was that? That voice, that name.. she called me 'Shirou'? It feels right, somehow, like I would never accept being called anything but 'Shirou', like how I didn't accept the Overseer calling me HM-03-1204, as if my soul itself would rebel against any other name. And yet.. it still feels incomplete… like I'm forgetting something crucial…'

"Hey redhead, don't ignore me! Why'd you start holding your head all of a sudden, you still haven't answered my question! I asked what to call you, dumbass!" Angry at seemingly being ignored, the girl was about to impulsively grab the boy and shake him to his senses, only for him to quickly bow slightly towards her in apology.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do that, I don't remember much of who I was before I woke up here.. but you can call me Shirou. Just… Shirou… for now."

"Fine, since you decided to apologize so quickly, I'll accept it. I'm Sirin, and the other girl here is Bella, my best friend. We came from the same village before being brought here, so let me just say this: "Don't think about messing with her, or else you'll have me to deal with!"

"Alright, I won't, and I wasn't planning to do so anyway. It's nice to meet you, Bella. Can I ask you, where is this place, and why do I feel like I've seen you before?"

"Huh, what do you mean by that last sentence? I've never met you before, you creep. Never mind that, this is Babylon Labs, a place where these scientists like the one over there conduct tests on the other kids around here. Apparently they work for some organization called Schicksal that I've never heard off in Russia here. I don't like the tests they do though, it hurts every time they inject me with some sort of purple energy, so I've been trying to avoid them testing on Bella. She's already gone through some tests before and gotten really sick, so I'm worried…"

Before the two children could continue their conversation, the same voice from before calling the children to the mess hall spoke out again. "Alright, looks like we didn't lose anyone overnight this time. You two girls, you're up for more testing today. Do not delay, or I'll make sure you get no lunch, got it?"

The two random girls mentioned tensed up when the scientist pointed at them, then burst into tears when they were called. The scientist rolled his eyes at this, pressed a button on his belt, and two other more well-built scientists entered the mess hall and carried the crying girls out, making no effort to soothe them. The scientist from before then left after them.

"What, the tests are so bad those girls started breaking down when they were chosen…? Were they just chosen at random? Is this how everyday life is like for you two here?" Shirou, upset at the unemphatic treatment of the chosen children, asked Sirin and Bella beside him.

"Yes… the scientists don't care much about us at all, it's been the same for the past few months both of us have been here, and some children get sick and die in their cells if they even come back from the lab they do tests in. Sometimes we don't even see the other kids come back." Bella softly explained.

"That's why I don't want Bella to go through even one more test: last time she barely recovered and I nearly had to watch her die… I don't want that to happen, ever! I'll take her place if she is ever called again, got that?!"

"Stop talking like that, Sirin! I don't want that for you! The other kids from our village are already gone… don't leave me alone here!" Bella begged her friend.

The other girl was about to reply heatedly, when both girls' stomachs rumbled. "Um, Sirin…" Bella mumbled, "We haven't eaten breakfast yet…"

Blushing furiously, her friend frantically grabbed at both Bella and Shirou's arms and started dragging them to collect their food. "Ahhh… Forget it, now! I don't want to miss breakfast and go hungry until the next mealtime! We'll talk about this later, got it?"

The three children finally reached where yet another annoyed-looking scientist was handing out food… which turned out to be just slices of plain bread.

"Wait… that's it? That counts for breakfast here, just two pieces of bread?" A puzzled Shirou questioned both Sirin and the scientist when he saw what was being served.

"Yes, that's all we get every day for every meal here, and not even always three times a day," both Sirin and Bella answered him.

"Listen, new kid, do you have any idea how busy we scientists are around here? We have important objectives given to us by the Schicksal Overseer to do. Most of us are so busy we don't even have time to wait to boil water for making instant noodles! The Overseer also insists on not hiring a cook for this place, something about 'letting secrets slip to Anti-Entropy' or something. Unless you're going to bother doing something so absurd as to offer to cook for all the people in this place, you can forget about having anything more fancy!"

"Well, then maybe I will!" Shirou impulsively yelled back at the disgruntled serving scientist. "This is not fit to be called a meal to be given to all the other kids here! If I have to cook for the scientists as well, so be it!" Some of Shirou's vague dream memories about that purple haired girl included the both of them cooking meals together for some reason. He still couldn't remember how she clearly looked like, but he felt he had enjoyed that time spent together with that girl, enough to make Shirou's heart constrict suddenly, perhaps in longing or loss, he wasn't sure.

"Wait, seriously? Did you just say that? Wait, does that head scientist even allow this? Hey, someone! Go check with the head scientist, he just left to take to take those two crying brats to the lab! If he approves this, we could finally have a cook to take care of the kitchen around here! It's been gathering dust ever since we moved in!" the flabbergasted scientist hurriedly questioned his colleagues.

A few minutes later, the head scientist and some others were conversing in front of giant steel laboratory doors, muffled screams of pain audible from behind it. "Head scientist, can we allow this, don't we have to conduct the same tests on this redhead boy as well? Not only that, can we believe this new kid not to poison us?" "No, on orders from the Overseer himself, the boy is a personal project of his, and we are only to observe the boy, not to conduct Honkai energy injections on him. If the brat is offering to earn his keep around here, why not? Even I'm sick of eating bread for months. As for the issue of any poison, just have the boy feed the other brats before he serves us. I'm going back in to the lab now, don't disturb me again."

Back in the mess hall, three children were waiting for the scientists to return, still chewing on bread. "Why did you offer to do that for us, Shirou? We just met you. Are you sure you want to take up this task for us?" Bella questioned the boy, utterly confused at his actions.

"It's alright, I volunteered for this. I only just woke up here and I can see how thin your arms are, you're not even getting any protein in your diet. That's not acceptable to growing children, no matter what. If I have to cook for these uncaring scientists as well, so be it. Besides… I think I'll enjoy cooking." Shirou told them.

"…If you are really set on this, then… maybe I can help you. I don't remember much of my mom, but I do recall some things she taught me about cooking… I'll be able to help you without messing up the food." Bella suggested, much to Sirin's disapproval. "Bella! Why would you offer to do that? He signed up to do this, not you! And Shirou, you're crazy! Even if you are willing, what makes you think you'll even be allowed to do so when those scientists are going to conduct the same tests on you like they did for us?"

As if on cue, the bread serving scientist ran back into the room. "Good news, new kid! The head scientist doesn't care and said you can do what you want! You can even serve the other kids first before we scientists eat your food! This mess hall's kitchen is open to you, now get to cooking!"

"WAIT, THAT WORKED?!" Sirin yelled out. Shirou and Bella were already heading into the kitchen behind and taking stock of the inventory. "Wow, there's basically nothing in the storage room or fridge.. just some rice, oats, flour, sugar, salt, old canned meats… What do we cook now? People are counting on us." Bella wondered. In the meantime, Shirou had already filled up a large pot of water and turned on the stove beneath it. "From what you mentioned, I think some simple oatmeal with a little sugar for breakfast will be enough, the scientists won't wait too long and bread isn't enough for the other kids. For lunch, maybe I'll cook some rice and add the canned meat to it, I'm still thinking about a future menu. I also saw some packets of instant noodles in a corner of the fridge, so if we have nothing else to cook with we'll use that as dinner. I'm heating up the water now, let's hurry and make the oatmeal now, alright Bella?"

"Okay then, seems you know what to do even more than me… somehow…" Bella pouted a bit unconsciously, Sirin having followed the two little chefs to the doorway of the kitchen seeing this and giving Shirou a glare that he missed. She then blushed when her stomach rumbled again when the smell of oatmeal started to drift in the air of the kitchen, ducking out of sight.

"Hmm, maybe this isn't as bad as all those combat tests the Overseer put me through," Shirou hummed to himself, stirring the pot and adding more oats. "I may even be able to help the other kids more than what I'm doing now."

Time passed as Shirou and Bella continued to cook, Sirin still peeking around the doorframe with her stomach still rumbling, watching her current best friend smile as she measured the sugar. "Maybe… you're not so bad after all, Shirou."