Chapter 17 – Laurel’s Shadow Magic

Third person POV

 After that coffee time, Roxas and Laurel paid for their meal and left the café. As they walked together, Laurel decided to spend some time with Roxas, so he called his secretary back at the agency upstairs, informing her that he would have some time off from work in order to do so. His secretary then accepted it as orders from him, doing his work for him. After that, Laurel looked at Roxas. "Right, let's have some time together, for old times' sake."

 "What?" Roxas glanced at him. "How about your work?"

 "I had my secretary do the work for me until…noon."

 "Oh, okay, Let's do this!" Roxas responded with enthusiasm.

 And so, the pair went through the city to spend some time together. They explored different places and shopped for some things as a mark of their unbreakable, timeless brotherly bond. One time, they bought some milk tea from a popular milk tea shop.

And then, at 11:01 a.m., Laurel led Roxas to a secluded area because he would show him his ability. There he forms a shadow ball using magic. Roxas was amazed. "Is that shadow?"

Laurel nodded. "Yes, this is my ability, Shadow Master."

He then hurled it toward some empty soda cans that he got from a trash can, knocking them out.

 "Wow, that was so cool, kuya," Roxas commented in enthusiasm.

Laurel smiled. "Thank you. There's more."

He then outstretched his right hand. "Shadow Minions!"

Then, he summoned 3 shadow versions of himself.

Roxas was once again amazed. "Wow…"

 "Cool, isn't it?"

Laurel then made a gesture, causing his three shadow minions to poof into nothing.

 "So far, these are my abilities within my shadow magic category. How about you? Do you have any abilities?"

 "Well…"

 Roxas didn't continue that, so he gets his notebook and magical pen from his messenger bag. He then opened the notebook to the next blank page and used the said pen to write something so he could activate his ability Golden Word. He wrote, "A white and black kitten was in this place."

Then, a literal white and black kitten magically appeared in front of them, meowing cutely at them.

Laurel was astonished and dumbfounded by his newfound ability. "What is that? Did you just create that kitten out of thin air?"

 "Yes, this ability is called Golden Word," replied Roxas with positive enthusiasm. "It's an ability that allows a user to turn what they had written into reality in the most literal sense possible."

Laurel was now intrigued. "Wow, that's amazing. Anything you had written will be true to life?"

Roxas was hesitant, so he just replied, "I'm not sure though. I only write some parts of the lives of my fanfic characters and some sample sentences."

 "What?! Fan fic characters? Your characters?"

"Yes," admitted Roxas, "there are three in this world, Tomoaki Honda, Asae Sohma, and Juan Honda."

 "Who are they?"

 "Basically, in this world, Tomoaki and Juan Honda are Tohru's maternal cousins while Asae Sohma is Kyo's younger sister."

 "Oh…okay, so that means we are basically living in the world of "Fruits Basket"?"

"Yes, did the goddess tell you that?"

 "No, not at all. She only told me that she will give me a new body and identity and two abilities."

 "Okay then."

 "Also, back in your previous life, or rather, our previous life, you're the one who created those three people. by writing?"

Roxas then nodded to say yes.

 "Wow, that was so awesome. I think your skills as a writer in our previous life make you a prolific one, right?"

Roxas then scratches the back of his head in a bit of embarrassment. "Yeah…my writing skills make me prepared in this life."

 "That's impressive, bro. Now you can control them however you like."

 "Yeah, but I'm keeping my moral values as a measuring ruler for my control over them."

 "Ah, okay."

 "Also, there's another ability that I haven't discovered yet."

 "Oh, that, the goddess told me that you will have two, but she didn't tell me what they are."

 "I see."

Laurel then patted Roxas' left shoulder. "It's okay. You'll eventually discover that someday."

Roxas nodded positively. "Yes."

He then hugged him in an embrace. "Thanks."

Laurel then rubbed his back. "You're welcome, bro."

After that, Laurel picks up the kitten and decides to adopt it. "I'll take this as my pet."

 "Sure," replied his friend back. "Make sure you take good care of it."

 "I will."

 And then, by 11:11 a.m., they packed up and left the secluded area, with Laurel carrying the little kitten in his arms. Laurel also made sure that the area was clean by picking up the empty soda cans and throwing them in the trash can.