A cute lick woke Chocola up. The room was sunny. Her face was a mess, so she quickly rushed to the bathroom and fixed herself up.

"Vanilla. I decided to make a diary of my own. Do you know where I can get a notebook?" Chocola cutely asked.

"The library. Want to go there together? I need a sketchbook, and there is a bit of time before our shift starts."

"Sure!" Chocola smiled brightly, and together they went to the library.

The library was an old building. They went inside, and there were just so many books.

"Welcome back, Chocola. Long time, no see!" A fox boy—a librarian—welcomed her. "I see you brought your friend."

Chocola's ear twitched. The librarian recognized her, which meant previous Chocola visited this place. But he did not seem to recognize her sister.

"My sister, actually!" She quickly corrected.

Chocola went to look around. Chocola picked up a random book, and it was an encyclopedia of edible plants. And all the plants were so different and foreign from anything she had seen before. A fox boy librarian watched her.

"Wow, you have a lot of books!" Chocola complicated the librarian.

"This is just one floor; we have five." The fox boy explained. There was this strange note in his voice.

Chocola understood what the note meant—he was not aware she was a different Chocola. Nevertheless, Chocola looked around; the house looked like it had two floors from the outside. She saw the big stairs down. The library had a deep basement.

"Well, the library stood here for five centuries." The librarian proudly added.

Chocola remembered her chat with Kate, specifically the part about theft. It was such a strange world, and in a weird way, it all made sense.

"So, uhm, can I buy a notebook?" Chocola asked.

"Of course." The fox boy immediately picked up an empty book from behind the counter. "Seventeen bronze, and it's all yours."

Chocola's ear twitched. She realized something very peculiar. She had no clue how money worked here. At all. She actually never saw a single coin either. She would go to the market and pick up groceries, but she never paid for any of it. In fact, she never saw anyone use any form of money.

She stared into Vanilla with clueless eyes. Vanilla jumped forward, and Chocola carefully observed her. Vanilla simply picked up the two notebooks and pressed them close to her chest. There was no actual payment, or so it seemed. Chocola was confused.

"Thank you very much, Chocola's sister." The librarian smiled.

"Her name is Vanilla." Chocola quietly corrected him with a kind voice.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Chocola then moved her hands towards the notebook, but Vanilla shook her head. Instead, Vanilla went toward the table and sat down. Chocola sat besides her.

"You really, really don't know how money works?" Vanilla asked curiously.

"No, not at all." Chocola was confused. What was Vanilla talking about?

"And here I thought you were the smart one." She giggled.

"What money?" Chocola lowered her voice. She realized she was in a library. There was no one else besides them and the librarian, but she felt it was still not appropriate to be loud.

"You work as a waitress…" Vanilla became smug.

"I never saw anyone pay. I thought it was all for free." Chocola defended herself.

"Why do we have a menu with prices then?"

Chocola was even more confused. Her ears lowered. She felt ashamed.

"Well, they never paid me." Chocola's ears lowered. She felt ashamed.

"Did you get any tips?"

"Well, I did get a bunch of head pats. That's it, no currency of any kind."

"Ok, so that makes things simple. How many headpats did you receive?" Vanilla giggled playfully.

Chocola began thinking and trying to remember every guest and every headpat.

"No, no, don't try to count them. Just say the first number that comes to mind." Vanilla briefly interrupted her.

Chocola did as told. She felt something. It was magical. Like those "magical suggestions" she felt in the beginning. She had gotten used to them by now, so she no longer noticed them. But now she felt it again; it was a number; it said 44. The suggestion was weak and faint, but she knew that was the right number.

"Forty four. I received forty-four headpats." Chocola announced, and Vanilla giggled cutely yet quietly.

"Nice! So, uhm, I have this notebook here. Give me seven headpats for it, and it's yours."

Chocola reached out to give her some headpats, but Vanilla caught her hand and simply pushed the notebook into it.

"That's it. It's yours. How many head pats have you received?"

Chocola briefly remembered the magical number. It was now thirty-seven. She did not do any math; it simply said thirty-seven. It was still a magical and faint hunch; it was 37. Chocola froze. What kind of weird magic was this?!

She quickly went through her memories. She swore she could remember less of them. Or, rather, she could remember every time she received a head pat, but she could not remember her own emotion when receiving some of those headpats. She wondered if she never remembered, or was it explicitly because she gave those emotions to Vanilla? It kind of felt magical.

"See, fun. Anything countable can be used as a currency. But the official currency stores use is bronze. That's how our guests pay. It felt strange to me too. Nyaa~" Vanilla interrupted the long thought Chocola had and simply explained.

Chocola thought for a bit more. Indeed, in her head, she had another 'magical suggestion.' The number was 72; that's how much broze she had.

"So, uhm, we're in a virtual reality game?" Chocola said the first non-magical thought that came to her head.

"Nope. Everyone says it's a real planet. Does it not feel real to you?" Vanilla inquired.

Vanilla was right. Everything felt completely real. Emotions, feelings, sensations, and really, really everything. Chocola thought a bit further and finally nodded.

"It feels very real. But how? It makes no sense. Nyaa!"

"Well, you're in a library, silly meow~" Vanilla suggested.

Chocola went to the librarian and smiled at him.

"How can I help you, Chocola?"

"Do you have a book on how money works?"

"The Spirit Circuit. The fifth floor, magic section, should be the first book on bookshelf A." The librarian quickly replied.

Chocola bowed as a thank-you and quickly ran towards the stairs. However, Vanilla grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"Oi, slow down, nerd, we have to go back; we open soon." Vanilla insisted.

"Just to be clear, I can't borrow a book." Chocola asked on her way out, but she knew the answer already.

"Correct. You can read any book here, but you cannot take it with you." The librarian explained.

"Okie, see you around, nyaa~" Chocola meowed after a brief sigh, and both catgirls stepped outside.

The day continued. Chocola was happy, as if she had discovered a chest filled with invaluable treasure. But she also remembered how much she cried yesterday, so she simply could not leave Vanilla alone. And yet, she could not stop thinking about the library.