The evening came. Once Chocola was free, she asked her sister for permission and darted into the library.

She waved to the fox librarian and went down the stairs. She then found the magic section, then the right bookshelf, and took out the first book.

"The Spirit Circuit"

Without any pause, without sitting down, she began flipping through the pages. It described a massive network that connected every living being on this planet. Plants, animals, and even bacteria.

Humans could not see these circuits; they were invisible to them. Nevertheless, humans could use it, and in fact, most did use it for monetary bookkeeping. This network was so advanced that remembering a bunch of numbers was trivial. The faint connection humans had to the circuit was enough for them to use it.

"So that's what magical suggestions are." She spelled it out to herself, drowning in amazement and excitement.

The book mentioned elves and magical girls. They could see the spirit circuits, and they could use the advanced functionality these circuits provided. They could use it to create matter out of thin air or to make matter disappear. They could transform one creature into another by rearranging all the atoms in their body, all in a blink of an eye.

Chocola's tail swished intensely; it was all so absolutely interesting.

The book described magical girls too. Despite their appearance, they were not humans but something entirely different. A human could become a magical girl, but it was a one-way trip; a magical girl could never become human again.

The book also said magical girls were hyper-intelligent. The book did not specify how much more intelligent they were. But it did say that transforming a human into a cat girl required re-arranging atomic structure, so magical girls were capable of doing that in a blink of an eye.

Unfortunately, the tail stopped swishing soon after she read about magical girls. That was the end of the book. She picked another, but could not read it. She did not recognize the language or even the letters. And each letter had a unique color that seemed to change over time. Chocola had no clue how to read it. Only the first book was written in a language she could read; everything else used this weird script.

Annoyed, Chocola picked up a random book and carried it upstairs.

"What language is this, nyaa?" She asked with burning

"Elvish. Only magical beings can read it."

"Can you teach me? Please please."

"No."

"Why not?!"

"Because I don't know it myself." The librarian shook his head.

"So why do you even have these books?!"

"A book is a book, and this is a library." The fox boy yawned.

Chocola, completely defeated, returned to the booked-filled basement and placed the book back. There were no other books she could read, at least not in the magic section.

The nerdy catgirl then moved one floor up. That was the fiction section of the library. Terribly dusty. Chocola made a strange laugh about the dust.

However, upon closer inspection, she noticed imprints in the dust. The footprints led to a table, and the chair had clear tail markings. The catgirl sat in here, and the only catgirls in this town came from Chocola's home.

Chocola's ear twitched. It was a mystery and a fun one, too. She looked around for other markings in the dust, and it led her to a bookshelf. She checked a few books; the titles and authors were completely unfamiliar. But one of them stood out.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

It was familiar. It was a book from her world. She took it off the bookshelf and flipped through the pages. As she flipped, she saw a piece of paper and a note fall out of the book. She caught the note, and her eyes twitched at the sight. It was a handwritten note.

"Earth date: October 21, 2022. I've managed to view the source code for the teleportation crystal. With this, I can finally confirm my hypothesis: it is a programmable quantum computer. However, the code is unlike anything I have seen before. It seems to use color to convey information, and thus I am unable to copy it to paper."

"What the nyaa!" Chocola gasped in amazement.

Those were real, actual notes. With sketches of the orb that took her here. Someone was trying to reverse engineer the thing. She was immediately hooked on it. It was as interesting as the book on magic, even more so because someone from her world wrote these notes.

"Earth date: October 25, 2022. I have talked to a magical girl, and she confirmed the code is not encrypted but explained that humans simply cannot perceive the language of magic. There is not much time left, so I must give up trying to decipher the code. I need a new approach."

Chocola quickly took out another note.

"Earth date: October 28, 2022. I have talked to other catgirls; they were reluctant, but I've managed to pry out a bunch of observations. If the crystal is broken, it will teleport to the connected actor and teleport them back. The magical girl refuses to answer any questions about it. She says it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I should not waste my time here. But that's the thing; I like it here, and I want to return."

Chocola sighed. Becoming slightly sad. Because that was exactly what she was doing here. She could have been home and had cuddles with Vanilla. But no, she chose to be in this dusty and icky library. It was so dusty; just looking around made her feel itchy. She found another, the last note.

"Earth date: October 29, 2022. No one knew an actor who had returned, either to their role or the role of others, so it seems the process destroys the crystal. However, this gave me an idea. What if I activate the orb the same way I came here, by charging and touching it? Maybe that will let me keep the ball and allow me to travel back. It's risky; I will think about it.

"Oh no…" Chocola sighed again; she understood the author. She then located the final note.

"Earth date: December 1, 2022. I will try to activate the orb manually. If my theory holds, I should return and keep the orb with me. I will attempt to charge the device and activate it by touching it.

If this is my last entry, it means I have managed to activate the device. But I have a bad feeling about this, and I have to try it. It is eating me alive.

I hid these notes in a library, in a section no local will have any interest in. With luck, another actor will find them useful. Please spend more time actually playing your role; that's my advice. I spent all my time researching the device; I hope it was not a waste, but I fear it might be."

As she read the final note, tears began to collect in Chocola's eyes. She remembered Vanilla and her diary. Was this the Chocola who was mean to Vanilla? The author of the note never specified a name but was worried.

Chocola read the notes while standing; the chair still had the dust imprints of whoever sat there. It was not much, but it was a clue. She slowly moved her butt to the chair. She was not trying to sit; she would never sit on something so dusty, but she wanted to see if her tail would make the same imprint.

It did not. It was not Chocola. Vanilla was not likely either, as she had the same shape of tail as Chocola. It did not solve the mystery, but it gave a little sense of relief. But this small relief was not enough. Chocola was still thinking about Vanilla and her diary. The tears finally overflowed and began dropping onto the layer of dust.

Chocola's mood was overflowing with emotions. She covered her face and left the library in a rush. She was sobbing again. Vanilla must have been alone and lonely all this time. Chocola felt as if she had betrayed her role and her sister to gain knowledge, and she hated this feeling.

"I am such a terrible actor." Chocola mumbled to herself. But it did not numb her.

If it was just Chocola, Mary would be fine with it. Mary was okay with betraying Chocola, but it was not just Chocola she was betraying. She knew how much her sister valued her, and that's why Mary cried. Mary cared for Vanilla, whether she was her real sister or not.

In the end, she came home and flopped on her bed. Then she cried because she forgot to say "I am back" to her sister. Her sister heard and came to console her.

"I am sorry for being such a horrible sister." Chocola spoke through cries.

"Nonsense, you are the best sister I ever had." Vanilla lied down and gently hugged Chocola.

Mary did not deserve any of that. If Vanilla knew what went through Mary's head, she would not hug her either. That's what Mary thought to herself.

"Are you having unpurry, out-of-character thoughts?" Vanilla guessed, and her guess was right on point. She was a great sister, actually.

Chocola simply nodded.

"I see. I have those too." Vanilla did not say anything else, but it helped.

Mary kept thinking; she made plans to visit the library tomorrow. It did not feel right, but it distracted her. Vanilla was right behind her, so she felt supported. Besides, in some weird, weird way, Mary found Vanilla to have emotional strength. She has survived the loss of her sister before, and yet that did not break her character; she pushed on. Her drawings became better too. Maybe if Mary screwed up and lost her role, Vanilla would carry on. That gave Mary strength, or at least made her feel less guilty about having out-of-character thoughts.

They eventually both fell asleep.