Kyle's peaceful morning was abruptly disrupted by a sharp pain on his cheek. With an annoyed expression, he tried to bury his face under the blanket, but unfortunately, the endless pecking didn't stop at his face. It started pulling his hair.
Still groggy, he didn't bother to investigate the cause. Instead, he wrapped himself tightly in the blanket, hoping to ignore the pain and go back to sleep.
-'Hey, wake up. I'm hungry.'
"?"
Kyle jolted the moment he heard a child-like voice inside his head.
"What? Who's there?"
He instantly scanned the room with narrowed eyes to find the owner of the voice, but there was no one.
"Am I imagining things?"
Since it was still early in the morning, he shook his head and prepared to retreat under the covers.
-'Are you ignoring me?'
"?"
This time, the voice in Kyle's head was so clear that he couldn't ignore it.
He quickly sat up, scanning the room in hopes of finding someone, when suddenly something soft brushed against his hand.
"Huh?"
He looked down and saw a small, bright red bird staring at him eagerly with her big, blue eyes.
"What are you?"
Kyle picked up the bird, barely the size of a fist, with two fingers and looked at her curiously. Instantly, the bird started wriggling, trying to free herself.
-'What are you doing? Let me go! Don't you know how to gently pick up someone?'
-'Also, why are you still sleeping? I'm hungry. Give me something to eat.'
Hearing the familiar child-like voice inside his head, Kyle was dumbfounded.
"You..."
He began to say but was interrupted by the sound of something breaking under his blanket.
'No way...'
Kyle quickly removed the blanket and his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the broken pieces of what used to be an egg.
-'Hey, are you gonna let me go or not?'
The small bird interrupted, chattering endlessly inside his head. Or should he say the small phoenix?
He wasn't sure... Why was she so small? Kyle couldn't help but wonder if she was adopted.
'Wait, the egg was small, so it would make sense for her to be small, but she doesn't look like a phoenix.'
"Don't tell me the phoenix gave me someone else's child? Why are you so small?"
The bird seemed offended as golden flames started to appear around her body, but she made sure not to harm Kyle too much.
Due to the sudden heat on his fingers, Kyle let go of the bird with a wince.
-'I am not short! I am a legendary being. And here you are, being ungrateful by making fun of my appearance.'
-'Anyway, I just came out from the egg, that's why I'm hungry. So give me some food.'
Kyle looked at the proud expression of the small, fluffy ball with a complicated expression.
'I thought I was gonna have a phoenix as a bonded companion, but what is this thing? She's definitely not a phoenix!'
Amidst all the grumbling, he couldn't deny that she was surprisingly strong despite her small and cute appearance. After all, he could feel her rank. It was (E)-Rank which was even higher than his own.
'As expected from a phoenix. Or maybe I should just call her a bird.'
He took out something edible from his storage ring and placed it in front of the bird. She eagerly started eating and had a satisfied expression on her face. Then, she flew and landed on top of his head.
Kyle looked up and smiled because, for some reason, he found her cute. He could feel a small connection between them, and because of that, he could also sense a portion of her emotions. He wondered if she could do the same.
-'Stop staring and give me a name.'
She looked at Kyle with her big blue eyes filled with expectations.
Kyle nodded seriously and started pondering about a suitable name for his little companion.
"A name, hmm."
"How about Birdy? Or Reddy? I think it's similar to your appearance."
She gazed at Kyle with wide eyes filled with disbelief, making the latter doubt his naming skills.
"Was it that bad?"
-'Just bad? No, it's terrible.'
Kyle blinked, but then let out a chuckle at how she was trying to speak like an adult with her child-like voice.
He also noticed that she had knowledge about her surroundings and was able to converse with him very easily.
'It seems it's true that monsters with intelligence can share some part of their knowledge with their offspring.'
"Then how about Bia? It's the name of the goddess of strength."
Kyle tapped the head of the bird who seemed to be enjoying herself.
-'Okay, considering the previous options, Bia is a thousand times better!'
-'I am a little sleepy, so I will sleep. Don't wake me up for a while.'
"Alright."
Kyle picked up Bia from his head and carefully placed her on the pillow. It seems she was getting tired too easily because she just left the egg. Afterward, he started preparing for the morning class he had been missing for a few days.
Just like him, Nine woke up and knocked on his door. The brown-haired boy realized that waking up Kyle had become a habit over the past month.
Nine sighed and was about to knock again, but Kyle opened the door. Then, they started walking together toward the classroom.
.....
The first-year classroom was buzzing with students as usual, but today there was a lively discussion happening inside. Almost all of them were talking about the Tower and the competition to fill the seven spots reserved for first-year students.
Alec and Carcel were seated in the front row, where Kyle and Nine usually sat. Lara and Mia were sitting behind the duo. Their group was also discussing the upcoming competition, which was just a week away.
Suddenly, the classroom door swung open, and two familiar faces walked in, catching everyone's attention as they were the last to arrive. Alec spotted Kyle and Nine entering and waved them over to sit beside him and Carcel.
Kyle greeted them and took one of the unoccupied seats next to Alec, but he couldn't help feeling a bit puzzled.
'Did Alec save these seats for me and Nine? I wonder why. We're not that close.'
Just like Mia and Lara, the four of them started chatting, but as always, Carcel and Kyle remained quiet, nodding or speaking only when necessary.