She went through the forest, searching for a specific mushroom. If she changed her age, no one would recognize her. She could go to the market without fear. The only problem was that she could not find a young mushroom. She found some, but they were all old and dying. And she did not want to touch those.

While looking for it, Mary thought about the laser and Kate. Kate only figured out when Chocola would use it after she gave it to her. If she had known it before, she would have never made the laser pointer in the first place. Kate did not know Chocola would use it to interact with the sphere either.

"Kate, what were you thinking?" Mary said to herself out loud, trying to get into the magical girl's thought process.

Kate did send a vague warning. It was about being stuck. The note said that magical girls are stuck too. So it was basically a warning against learning magic. Learning magic would, eventually, lead to being stuck. She did not expect this to happen immediately; she would have plenty of time to discourage someone from learning magic. That's why she gave the pointer in the end. Mary felt smug and proud; it really felt as if she had outsmarted Kate.

The note also said she did put a spell on the laser pointer. The only reason to do that was to playfully punish a curious cat that tried to figure out its inner workings. Maybe it would give her paws; maybe it would make her speak in cat sounds only; nothing too serious or character breaking, but something embarassing like that. Something Kate could fix and later give a long lecture about studying magic. Sneaky and exactly like Kate. The note said it would help her learn the language, and Mary smiled; she figured out what it does. The list of potential transformations was rather short, and only one fit the description.

She knew what the spell did, but how would one activate it? The spell had to do something with how the laser was built; it simply had to. Mary stopped looking for a mushroom and took out the pointer. She carefully looked at it from all sides, trying to find any gaps or openings. The casing felt like metal; there was a small, flat spot where she would put her finger to activate it. But it reminded her of a pointer that she had as a kid—the one she could unscrew to access the battery compartment. She tried to unscrew this one, but it did not work.

"Hmm. Maybe it is locked?" she asked herself.

Mary squeezed the pointer, then saw the glyph again. While holding it tightly, she finally whispered "unlock," and immediately the rune in her imagination began glowing so brightly. It shattered like glass, and the glyph was no more.

She felt something wet in her hand too; she opened the palm and saw the laser-bright liquid among the metal parts. It was blinding her. It was burning into her hand. She tried to shake it off.

"No wait!!!" She shouted, but it was too late. It all happened so quickly. She knew it would happen, but it was still quite unexpected.

She shrank in size, and as her vision returned, she saw a useless metal cylinder in the hand that looked like it belonged to someone five years younger than Chocola. She was no older than Kate, and Kate looked as if she went to a primary school.

Moreover, her head was a total mess. She felt dizzy and overwhelmed, too. She began sorting everything out.

"Nyaa. English." She complained about the surprise and confirmed that she could still speak.

She looked at her clothes. Luckily, they seemed to have shrunk with her, including her shoes. So that was useful. As she thought about clothes, she knew exactly how Chocola would feel about them. Vanilla was right; they were tasteless. Chocola's feelings and memories felt like suggestions before, but now they were quite strong. But Mary also felt she had more control over them. As if she could choose who she wants to be.

"I am Mary. I am not Chocola anymore." She spoke to herself, and just like that, Chocola's feelings disappeared.

Little by little, her mind began to clear up. She thought about her family, and she could remember everyone's faces quite well. It made Mary happy. She began calming down. Within five minutes, her mind was clear.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Mary went towards the old mushroom, picked it up, and read its effect. It was so clear. She read the curse's 'spellwords' too. It was still a wall of glyphs, and each glyph changed color, but it looked so clear now. Not like an afterimage of a bright light, but as if they were written on a bright piece of paper. She noticed the colors changed in a repeating pattern, and for some reason she could memorize it easily. Mary also noticed that many glyphs were actually the same, just with different patterns of color. It felt as if her concentration had improved significantly.

"Wow. It's amazing. Now it would be cool to know what any of this actually means." Mary smiled and went back to Vanilla.

Vanilla was staring at the fire. She did not notice Mary. Mary lowered her ears, expecting to be scolded, and finally poked Vanilla's shoulder. Vanilla turned around, and her eyes grew wide.

"OH MY GOSH, MARY, YOU LOOK ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE." She shouted while Mary smiled smugly, although her ears still looked down.

"Wait, I hope you have a way back." Vanilla inquired, but small Mary shook her head. "You serious?"

"Yep. I think I can still drink a potion that makes me older, but I do not want to. If I become older, I will lose the ability to learn magic." Mary explained quite firmly.

"Ok, I can't really scold you. You are literally too cute. Anyway, let's go to the market now. I will stay in the shadows, but I don't think anyone will recognize you like this." Vanilla made use of the situation.

"Wait, I do have one request. Can you braid my hair?" Mary tugged on Vanilla's dress. "I really feel like having a braid. I think I would look extra cute with it."

"I don't know how, but I would love to, Mary." Vanilla smiled.

"I will show you. I would do it myself, but I don't have a mirror." Mary smiled back.

Half an hour later, the single braid was done. They finished packing, the fire was gone, and it was time to move on.

They went close to the town they were in. Vanilla stayed in the forest, but she made a list of things for Mary to get. The things were heavy; it took her a few trips to bring everything. Vanilla just looked guilty for letting Mary carry heavy things, but she did not stick her tail out of the woods.

After the list was done, Mary peeked into the library. The fox boy looked at her but did not seem to recognize her. She went right into the magic section and went through a few books.

Most books were really heavy on the walls of glyphs; a few seemed to be much easier and used shorter sequences of glyphs. One had colorful drawings, so she figured it might be some kind of beginner's book. She picked it up and brought it upstairs. Of course, she wanted more books, but one was about all she could carry. She could ask Vanilla, but she did not want to overburden her. She already had to carry the camping kit and all the dried meat she bought; it all looked so heavy.

"Can I borrow this book?" She asked the fox boy. She knew the answer but did not want to reveal that she was here before.

"No. You can read it here, but you can't take it with you." The fox boy denied her request.

"Then can I buy it?" Mary smiled.

"Sure, but it is a book on magic; I don't think you will be able to read it." The fox boy sighed.

"How much?" Mary's smile turned slightly evil.

"25 bronze." The boy matched her smile.

"Deal. I actually thought it would be more expensive." Mary made the transfer, and she was now the happy owner of a book she could not yet read.

She waved and returned to Vanilla. Except there was no Vanilla anymore. A brown haired, brown-tailed, and brown eyed catgirl welcomed her back. She was the same age as Vanilla and had an adventurer's outfit.

"Are you Vanilla?" Mary gasped, surprised at how different she now looked.

"Well, not anymore. You were gone for a while, and I just could not wait anymore, so I drank the potions you bought." Her voice was changed too. "On the bright side, I can now go to the market with you."

The catgirl then saw a big book in Mary's hands.

"You really are serious about becoming a magical girl." She added.

"Yep!" Mary immediately replied.

The ex-Vanilla picked up her very heavy looking backpack. She stared at Mary for a bit, then shook her head. She definitely wanted Mary to carry at least something, but Mary looked too cute with that big book in her hands.

"So where to now?"

"The elven continent!" Mary smiled.

"Are you insane? Wait, you really, really wanted to cross a continent on foot as a kid?" She sighed.

Mary just nodded. She took out the socks she bought earlier and switched her stockings to those. It was just a better fit for her adventurer's outfit. The other catgirl did not have stockings anymore either.

"What if I did not join you? How would you survive?" The older catgirl added.

"Well, I would figure something out!"

"Yep, insane, totally insane."

Nevertheless, they both began walking. They reached the town and took the road that went east.

"So, uhm, now that you're not Vanilla anymore, what should I call you?" Mary asked, ten minutes after they left the town.

"Freya. Call me Freya. I like this name. Frederika, if you want the full name." Freya answered; she seemed to have given it some thought already.

Mary smiled widely and brightly. With that, the only trace of their old life was their waitress clothes, which they still carried. Not for long; it was a useless weight in an already overweight backpack.

"Okie Fuki, I will call you Fuki from now on." Mary added, after a few minutes of silence.

"Freya." Fuki insisted.

"Nope, Fuki. Nyaa." Mary insisted, too.

"Nyaa." Fuki finally accepted her nickname.

The End