For a guy who'd just been chased out of a castle and nearly executed for "culinary uselessness." I was surprisingly calm. Mostly because the "giant death bird" that had just landed in front of me... wasn't trying to eat me. At least, not yet.
The ground shook when it touched down and its massive wings folded like molten gold. Its feathers shimmered between orange and white and its eyes glowing like twin embers trying really hard not to burn the forest down by accident.
I froze.
"Okay," I whispered. "That's… not the cute bird on my pizza box."
Still, I reached for the box, because logic and survival instinct have never been on speaking terms.
"Hey there, big guy. Are you hungry?"
The creature tilted its head, heat rolling off from him. It doesn't look like a dragon at all. It looked more like an eagle. Magnificent and absolutely terrifying. And I think it wanted what was inside my pizza box.
So I opened the box and that warm, cheesy scent hit the air, the glow in its eyes flickered. And then it sniffed.
And then, unbelievably, it sat down.
I blinked. "No way."
Carefully, I tore off a slice of pizza and held it out.
The Phoenix leaned forward, inspected it like a gourmet critic, and delicately plucked it from my hand. Steam curled through its beak and I saw rows of pointed teeth inside. I was like, what the hell? Bird with teeth? It chewed slowly and the sound it made was somewhere between a purr and a satisfied sigh.
I stared. A godly bird was eating my dinner. And enjoying it.
As it nibbled through the crust, a familiar image popped into my head,
It was not the pizza box logo, but the king's face from the castle who summoned me.
That sharp nose. That pompous voice and posture. I'd seen him before.
Wait. No, seriously. I had.
I frowned when I remembered it.
"No way…"
The crown. The robes. The knights. The identical marble hall. I wasn't just in some random fantasy world.
I was in that world. The one from the anime I watched last month.
The one with the chill guy, Fenrir, a slime, and all the cooking.
My jaw dropped.
"Isekai'd… into an isekai anime?"
I sat down on a log, half-laughing, half-panicking.
"Oh man, this is wild. That means Mukōda-san's here somewhere! Maybe a few towns away!"
I glanced at the faint glow still floating in my peripheral vision.
Sure enough, a small translucent icon hovered there, just like in the show.
Curious, I reached out. The screen expanded.
[Skill: Master Chef (Unique)]
-Enhances any form of cooking.
-Making every cook delicious even at worst
"Whoa," I whispered. "It's real. I have a menu screen. I'm in the show."
I scrolled through sub-menus, eyes wide.
No inventory, no map, just skill details and a small stat list that made me look very… average.
Still, seeing it in front of me gave me a stupid grin.
"So this is what Mukōda-san sees every time he cooks…"
Behind me, a deep, silky voice spoke:
"Human."
I nearly dropped the screen.
The Phoenix, the literal flaming bird of myth was watching me with a strangely calm expression. Pizza crumbs still clung to its beak.
It cleared its throat (which, by the way, sounded like thunder politely coughing).
"That," it said, "was the most exquisite food I have ever tasted."
My brain short-circuited.
"Uh… thank you?"
"You have given warmth without fire.
Flavor without ash. It has been… centuries."
I rubbed the back of my neck, unsure how to respond to poetic compliments from a divine bird.
"Glad you liked it. It's my own recipe. Family secret. Made of flour, yeast, and… probably too much cheese."
The Phoenix blinked slowly, molten gold eyes studying me with quiet curiosity.
"Human," it said at last, its voice like a crackling hearth, "you have fed a being of flame what fire itself could not give."
I blinked back, still holding my pizza box.
"The cheese?"
The great bird tilted its head.
"It has warmth and satisfaction." A low wave rippled through its feathers. "It has been many ages since I felt that."
I scratched my neck awkwardly. "Glad you liked it. It's just…uh…family recipe. The name is Pizza."
The Phoenix looked genuinely thoughtful, like it was trying to memorize the spelling of "pizza."
And then it bowed its head, not deeply, but enough to make the leaves around us shimmer in the heat.
"I am no god, John. I'm a servant of one, a divine being of flame,"
Its eyes flickered, warm but sharp.
"And you, little human... have managed to satisfy the hunger of a Phoenix."
I gawked, my brain slowly catching up.
"You mean like… the Phoenix? Bird of rebirth, immortal flames, rises from ashes?"
"If the tales still remember me that way," it said softly, "then perhaps they were not entirely wrong."
It paused, feathers glowing brighter.
"Tell me, Master Chef… what will you cook next?"
I glanced down at the empty box, my heartbeat echoing louder than it should.
"Honestly? I was thinking about breakfast."
The Phoenix made a sound that might've been laughter, like a sound of sparks dancing across a skillet.
"Then let us see if mortal breakfast can still move the heart of fire."
The morning light seeped through the trees, warm and hazy. The smoke still curled lazily from the patch of ground where the Phoenix had landed, leaving the air scented faintly of burnt.
I was half-asleep, sitting by the ashes of the wood of my campfire, when the sound of soft feathers brushing against air made me glance up.
The Phoenix stood there. It was still enormous, still impossibly radiant watching me with those calm, molten-gold eyes.
"John," it said gently, "you have given flame a reason to rest."
I blinked.
"Pretty sure all I did was feed you pizza."
"And that, little cook, was more than enough."
The Phoenix stared at me for a long moment after finishing the last crumbs of pizza. It didn't look fierce anymore but calm, almost thoughtful, its golden eyes reflecting the firelight.
"Human," it said, voice low and even, "I wish to stay beside you."
I blinked.
"Uh… you mean like… as roommates?"
A soft rumble, halfway between a laugh and a snort, rolled from its chest.
"If that is your word for a familiar contract, then yes. You have fed me warmth unlike any I have known. In return, allow me to lend you mine."
My brain took a full three seconds to process that.
"Wait. You-you want to be my familiar? For real?"
The Phoenix inclined its head. The light around it pulsed like slow breathing.
"If you will have me."
My heart practically did a somersault.
This was exactly like that moment from the anime: Mukōda and Fel, the divine pact, the bond between man and beast.
Except I was standing here holding an empty pizza box, and my "divine beast" smelled faintly of mozzarella.
"I-yeah! Of course! Absolutely yes!"
The Phoenix's eyes softened. A faint glow spread through the clearing.
"Then, John of the oven's flame, give me a name to bear beside yours."
A name. Right.
Maybe something majestic? Something ancient?Something worthy of a legendary creature reborn from fire-
My tired brain picked the first thing it could grab.
"Tweety."
The forest went dead quiet..Even the fireflies froze.
The Phoenix blinked once, very slowly.
"Tweety?"
"Uh-yeah. You know, from Looney Tunes? Tiny yellow bird? Cute voice?"
For a terrifying moment I thought I'd offended it.
Then the corners of its glowing eyes softened, and it made a sound that was definitely laughter. It was warm, rolling, and sounded amused.
"Very well," it said at last. "If that is the name my new master chooses… then Tweety I shall be."
Before I could apologize, the Phoenix's body shimmered. Flames folded inward, wings tightening, its immense form shrinking until all that was left was a dove-sized bird of pure orange and red in feathers.
It fluttered up, graceful and weightless, and hovered before my face.
"This form will trouble you less," it said gently. "Mortals tend to panic at the sight of fire the size of mountains."
I was too stunned to answer. The tiny bird extended one glowing wing and touched it lightly to my forehead.
The heat surged, not burning, but bright and alive, like the first spark of a campfire on a cold night.
A symbol formed for a moment, warm and feather-shaped, then vanished.
"The bond is sealed," Tweety murmured.
I grinned so hard my cheeks hurt.
Somewhere inside, my heart was doing laps. This was it-the Fel moment.
I had a familiar. A divine being.
A tiny, golden, sarcastically named Tweety sitting proudly on my shoulder.
"Guess that makes us partners, huh, Tweety?"
"Indeed, Master John," the bird replied, voice faint but rich with pride. "Now… shall we eat again?"
I laughed, shaking my head.
"Yeah. Breakfast first."
And as the little flame-bird nestled against my neck, I realized something simple and incredible in this strange world, I wasn't alone anymore.
Tweety settled comfortably on my shoulder, his heat radiating like a tiny personal heater.
I grinned, staring out at the rising sun.
"Well, Tweety… looks like it's just you, me, and a whole lot of forest."
"And breakfast," he added firmly.
I laughed.
"Right. Breakfast first."
As I started gathering ingredients from my half-crushed pizza box, my heart thumped with excitement.
I wasn't a hero, I wasn't a warrior either
But I had a familiar and since landing in this world, I didn't feel so lost. I just felt hungry.