The morning came, and as promised, the magical girl came and ordered two milk shakes, and Chocola was more than happy to make them. She then took Chocola to the nearby park, where they sat on a chair and began talking.

"We are all alone here, so don't worry about breaking your character. Feel free to ask me anything." The magical girl offered.

"What is your name, meow?" Chocola spent the evening thinking about the list of questions to ask, but she realized she never asked her name. It felt rude.

"My name is Kate. I know your real name too, Mary. Oh, and you don't have to say nyaa here." Kate smiled, and Chocola's ear twitched at the sound of her real name. Nevertheless, it helped to break the ice.

"Nyaa, are you really a magical girl?" Chocola teased, still with a cute meow. It felt natural to her, and she enjoyed Kate's reaction to it.

"Nope. I am actually a witch. So, yes, I can cast magic." Kate opened her left palm, and a small lightning ball appeared above it.

"Can you teach me magic?" Chocola immediately asked; that was the most important question she had.

"I can, but I won't. Knowing magic is very much out of character for you. Your presence here is tethered to your role, and if you break it, you will be gone." The magical girl rhymed.

Chocola's ears went down. She was sad to hear this. But this answer was not unexpected; Mary did not expect this to be that easy.

"Can you tell me more about this world? Meow." Chocola then asked, and her meow sounded pensive.

"Of course. I suppose you deserve to know that. Well, it's a real place. Not a parallel dimension, but an actual planet in an actual solar system. About 42 thousand lightyears away from Earth. It is at least four times larger than Earth, and it is mostly land mass." The witch kindly explained, and Chocola was shocked. The answer was more detailed than she expected.

"Nyaa, so I traveled..." Chocola gasped.

"Yep, correct, you traveled faster than light. Or so we think. We can't actually know for sure, at least for the next 42 thousand years. I know, I was shocked too." Kate kindly smiled. She was staring into Chocola's face, observing her reaction. Which made her smile even more, because Chocola was extra cute when she fancied a shocked expression.

"What about magic?"

"There are massive, ancient, invisible spirit circuits that cover this planet. They act as conduits for magic. It's kind of like the internet, except it can transport matter and energy. That's all I can tell you." Kate continued her explanation, and Chocola's expression changed; they were both nerds, and she felt a strange connection to Kate.

"What about people? Are all people here from Earth?" Chocola's eyes sparkled; the nerd in her was hungry, and she felt she could use this situation to extract as much information as she could.

"Heh, no." Kate laughed. "I don't know the exact number of people here, but there are at least a billion. About a thousand of us are from Earth; the rest are locals. The spirit circuit allows us to communicate freely, so it fully feels seemless, as if we were born here. It is also unclear if locals are long-long descendants of Earth or if Earth is a descendant of these people, but both seem unlikely. The likely scenario is that both civilizations developed in parallel."

Chocola went silent. This was truly a lot to take in. She felt extremely privileged to be here; it was truly a miracle. She felt she did not deserve it, but she did not want to lose it either.

"What about us? I mean, Chocola and Vanilla, the whole project?'

"A little bit of cultural exchange between two worlds. This way, this world gets to experience ours, and, well, let's just say I published a bunch of stories on Earth too, all carefully masqueraded as fiction." Kate explained without a single trace of deceit.

Chocola went silent again. Meanwhile, Kate sipped her milkshake. Despite her serious tone and magical power, she did look like a kid; she was much younger than Chocola.

"As long as I play my role, I can stay here for as long as I want." Chocola finally asked; she was worried about it.

"You got it. But I think you are excellent at it, so keep it up!" Kate cheered on.

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"But I don't always know how Chocola needs to act."

"Nonsense. You're the best Chocola I have ever seen. Cheerful, curious, playful—a perfect catgirl, I meant it. I like Chocola, but I don't think I could play her role as well as you do. I am way too nerdy. Look, my meows don't even sound as cute as yours. Nyaa~" Kate meowed.

Mary found Kate's meow to be very cute. But she did not want to argue with her. Instead, she decided to be honest with her.

"To be honest, I actually haven't played the games either." Mary gave out her secret.

"Me neither; I simply watched a few episodes and saw a ton of fan art. None of the locals saw the series, and there aren't many of us Earthlings here. This works in your favor: no one really knows how exactly Chocola should act, so there's no real framework or ruleset for you to follow. In a way, just be yourself, and as long as you're a cheerful catgirl, you will do just fine." Kate smiled sincerely.

"I am still worried." Chocola sighed.

"Well, don't be. But if you are really worried, ask your master for tips. I think he knows the most about the show and will be more than happy to give you advice and help you out. But you have to ask for it; otherwise, he is simply too shy. Wanna know why?" Kate tilted her head.

Chocola nodded.

"Because he does not want to lose you. If you go away, we will need to find another actor. And who says the next one will be any better? By the way, you can quit anytime; that gives you quite a lot of freedom and leverage."

The catgirl nodded. She understood it. That's why they all had separate beds, too. People had to be given a certain leeway to make everything work.

"Oh, and don't steal. That's my advice." Kate added.

"Wait, why not?" Chocola inquired, and Kate's advice felt oddly specific.

"This world has special magic that protects people's property. Stealing candy will immediately remove you from this world. This is not a joke, and in fact, it is the secondary reason we lose actors." Kate was serious.

Chocola shivered but nodded. She remembered this rule in the ruleset, but she did not realize how unbreakable it was. This advice was extremely helpful. In the mean time, Kate seriously stared at Chocola's milkshake. Chocola did not touch hers, and Kate had already finished.

"Wanna have it?" Chocolate offered her cup, and Kate cheerfully grabbed it. Kate's mood visibly improved. "Anything else I should know?"

"If your character dies, you will be sent back too. So stay away from any dungeons. Then again, I don't think you're going to visit any dungeon anytime soon." Kate giggled, then sipped her milkshake.

Chocola had more questions, but she decided not to push her luck too much. Chocola noticed Kate was happy to talk about the nerdy lore, but she was not too excited when Chocola asked about magic or was worried about her performance. Unfortunately, Chocola wished to know more magic and felt like she had to appease Kate a bit further.

"Well, uhm, do you have any questions for me?" Chocola offered.

"Well, I do, actually. How do you feel? About all of this? It has been a week, so I am curious." Kate tilted her head.

"I love it. It's amazing. Nyaa! Thank you for this magical opportunity!" Chocola wiggled her ears; she was truly happy. She winked too, and her wink received a reaction. Kate was happy to hear this, too.

"What about your family? Friends? Aren't you worried about them?"

"I am worried; they must think I am on vacation. But I don't regret this. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I don't want it to go to waste." Chocola twitched her kitty ear.

"Work?"

"Hated it. I am happy to get away from the corpo. I am sure the HR department will know how to properly handle my disappearance. Wait, am I actually missing on Earth?!" Mary suddenly inquired.

"Yep, you are. This planet spins slightly slower than Earth, so if you spend seven days here, roughly ten days pass on Earth. By the way, if you want, I can relay a message to your family." Kate politely offered.

"I don't really know what to send, meow. I need time to think." Mary replied.

"Well, take your time. I visit your place once a week, so you have plenty of time." Kate finished the sentence with a loud, bubbly sip; the second cup of milkshake was now empty. "Ah, one more thing, Chocola. Did you like my website?"

"The one where I put my address? You're the one who made it?"

"Yep! Was it cute?"

"It was absolutely adorable. I love it. But it felt unusual and shady. It made me think this was an AI generation project." Chocola gave her feedback.

"Just as intended. I think AI is a great way to scare off closed-minded people. And shady has its purpose too; given the nature of this project, we need our actors to take a certain leap of faith. I'm happy that you took it."

Chocola winked cutely in response. She was really happy she gave the address too.

"There was also a clause about copyright. Did you really get the author's permission?"

"Yep. It was quite easy; my colleague just told them the truth, and they were immediately on it. They are here—the author, I mean. Maybe it's a visitor you regularly see, or maybe a catgirl close to you. I won't tell who that is; I know you're dying to know, but if you knew, you would worry unecessarily." Kate smiled smugly.

"Buut…" Chocola's ear twitched.

"Nope, they won't disqualify you. Think about it. Would you want your character to be the exact robot you imagined, or would you rather have your character have an actual soul of their own?"

Chocola nodded. She understood and agreed with it. Chocola returned to thinking about magic.

"Let's go back. I feel like you're going to ask about the orb next, and it's not really a topic I want to discuss with you." Kate defused Chocola's thoughts.

Chocola sighed.

"You know, I can't really prevent you from learning it. So, well, do some research on your own, in character!" Kate winked. Her wink was so adorable and distracting, too. "Can you find home from here?"

Chocola nodded. She knew where she was. Kate stood up and prepared to leave. Chocola followed.

"See you next week, then~" Kate announced it and simply poofed out.

"Wait, your wink; it was peak cute!" Chocola mumbled to herself; Kate was already gone.

Chocola sighed and walked back home. It was not that far. She did not learn about magic, but she learned a tremendous amount of useful information. She was happy. Her hunger was satisfied, and her worries were clarified. At least for today.