Aoi and the Mystery Donut

Aoi Asahina was standing in front of the fridge in the dorms' storage room. Her mind was fixated on a mysterious package that simply read 'Mystery Donut'. At this moment in time, she had two options. One- eat the donut without any questions. This was certainly the one she wanted to take. However, she couldn't help but feel suspicious. That was where option two came in. Option two was to leave it and go back to bed. It was almost 10 o'clock, and she wanted to get up early to do her morning routine with Sakura. Last time she overslept, Sakura somehow managed to hide all the donuts, even the ones from her secret stash in THAT drawer in her room, away and she couldn't find any for a week, that week being spent in the lowest reaches of hell. However, there was another reason as to why she was conflicted about this decision.

About two months ago, the Ultimate Prankster Kensuke Kujo had hid a piece of meat in the fridge of the dorms of class 77-B. There was only one person there who would ever take that bait. Akane Owari noticed it and immediately scarfed it down. Unfortunately for her, that meat also contained a powerful laxative. Needless to say the results were not pretty. So, as Aoi looked at this mysterious box, she couldn't help but feel suspicious. It... it just seemed too obvious to be anything but a trap. Aoi was dumb, yes. She was very dumb. She'd finished second bottom of her class in exam results, and only beat Yasuhiro because Yasuhiro's stupidity is not of the Earthly realm and is its own entity entirely. But even she, EVEN SHE could see how obvious of a trap this was. She laughed to herself, closed the fridge and went back to her room. And that should've been the end of it. But, one thing about Hope's Peak: never underestimate the pure madness that can consume the school at times. And, as Aoi walked back to her room, she was about to fall victim to this.

Approximately One Hour after the first sighting of the Mystery Donut
Location: Outside Aoi Asahina's room.
Situation: Somebody is about to enter Aoi's room.

"Noooooo, Donut-kun, I can't eat you, I got practice in the morning. Sorry, Donut-kun."

Aoi was apparently dreaming about a donut. Again. Kensuke sighed too himself. He'd been scouting Aoi for the past month in order to set up this prank, and the amount of time this girl thought about donuts was beyond belief. As Kensuke pondered on just how much he'd heard Aoi say 'Donut-kun' over the past month, his partner in crime came into view. Peko Pekoyama was standing there, looking mildly annoyed at the entire situation.

"Ah, Peko, just the girl I wanted to see. Are you ready?" He expressed his greetings to her with a cheery smile and wave.

"Yes."

There was an awkward silence between the pair.

"You know, I'm only here for young master." Peko uttered with clear distain in her voice. Kensuke just smiled. He remembered Peko's reaction as he told her about the thing he was going to do with Fuyuhiko. Honestly, even he felt a bit guilty, watching her agree to help him in the way she did. But only a bit. However, there was no time for that now.

"So, should we start?"

"Absolutely, I want to get this over and done with so I can get back. I have training at four."

"Cool. Oh by the way, did you bring the smoke machine and the..."

Approximately Three Hours after the first sighting of the Mystery Donut
Location: Aoi Asahina's room.
Situation: The prank is almost ready

"Peko?"

"What."

"This was fun, I hope we can do this again sometimes."

"... You know, I actually had fun here. I'm surprised. Thank you, Kensuke. But I can't forgive your threats to young master. So no, I won't collaborate again. Sorry."

"Hey, that's fair, but I hope you change your mind. Hey, maybe we can get Hiko on board as well."

"Maybe."

The two pranksters conversed in this manner for much of the time they set up the prank, making small talk and even joking at nothing in particular. Anyone who saw this would've thought the two were good friends. However, they were merely partners. And the thing they paired up for was almost ready. Kensuke couldn't help but anticipate what was going to happen when everything went down. He set up the secret speaker under Aoi's bed, and placed the smoke machine in the bathroom. Peko was also in the bathroom. There was a mask on her face, that of an anime girl. She didn't know which, but Sonia seemed happy when she asked to borrow it, so she thought it must be quite a famous one. Regardless, it was now time. Time for the prank to begin.

Aoi Asahina was dreaming about donuts. She was floating on a donut with a donut gun fighting the evil éclairs from taking over donut city. It was a wonderful dream. Then, in the middle of fighting the grand éclair, she heard a voice.

"Arise, Aoi Asahina!"

It was a deep, booming voice. An impossibly loud voice. Aoi shot up in surprise, and the evil éclair vanished as she awoke from her dream.

"W-w-w-wha? Who's there? Wha?" She shouted in an agitated, befuddled tone. She felt she was in medias res as to what was currently going on at this moment in time. However, her befuddlement was only to grow when she turned too her bathroom door.

There was a purple light and smoke emanating from the door, the smoke oozing out from the cracks of the door and the light illuminating the smoke a ghostly purple colour, one that Aoi had never seen before. Her mind immediately tried to rationalise the situation, before giving up when she realised this situation made no rational sense and simply started in a catatonic-like state of shock.

"Aoi Asahina!" Boomed the voice again. Aoi snapped to attention.

"You have been chosen! Aoi Asahina!" If Aoi was confused, now she was on a whole new level, not perplexed, not dumbfounded, not bewildered but a deeper level of confusion that transcended everything she'd thought previous. She simply sat there, on her bed. She had no idea what to do. And then the door opened. And then Aoi ascended and became a new being. Well, not really. But in that moment, she felt like that. Because in front of her was a... she wanted to call it a girl, but she couldn't be sure, due too the smoke obscuring her vision. And, she wasn't so sure, but she swore she saw an anime girl face mask. In any sense, what was standing before her was unlike anything she'd ever seen before. And it was insane. Totally, utterly insane. But, before she had time to process what the hell was happening, the thing in front of her held out a box. Aoi immediately recognized it- it was the Mystery Donut box that she had seen in the fridge before she went to bed. But what was it doing here? And why was this... creature holding it out in front of her?

"Aoi Asahina, you have been chosen to discover the truth about this world! The whole future of humanity depends on your choice here!" Told the voice. Aoi almost cried out in shock, and if her mouth responded, she probably would've. But she still couldn't speak. All of this was just too insane for her mind.

"However," the voice continued, "You also have the choice of blissful ignorance. It is all up too you. All you must do is eat one of these Donuts."
The mysterious person then opened the donut box to reveal two donuts, one Red, one Blue. Aoi realised that this was probably some form of Matrix reference. Before she could question why aliens (that's what she'd come to believe that this thing was) knew of the Matrix, the alien spoke again.

"If you eat the Red donut, you will fall asleep and forget of this entire escapade. But if you eat the Blue donut, you will awaken in the true world of humanity, and see the truth of your life!"

'Wasn't it the other way around in the movie?', thought Aoi. But, more importantly, she turned her focus too the two donuts in the box. True too its word, the box contained two donuts, one red and one blue. Aoi began to think. In any normal circumstance, she would not believe this at all. But, this was not a normal circumstance. And so, Aoi decided to do the only thing she could. Leave it too chance. If she had been slightly more observant, she would've noticed the obvious signs of a prank. But her mind was so confused at this point that she didn't notice. So, she didn't. Instead, she shut her eyes and put her hand in the box. She didn't even know what donut she'd chosen, not that it'd matter- they were both laced with a sleeping drug that would give the pranksters time to escape. She took whatever her hand grabbed onto first, brought it too her mouth and ate it. And then, she immediately fell asleep. The prank was done. Aoi would not wake up until midday.

Kensuke and Peko surveyed the scene. Aoi was sleeping peacefully. Her hand had a red donut in it, with one bite taken out of it. Slowly, Kensuke opened Aoi's hand and removed the donut. The smoke would clear in time, and they could remove the machine, the lights and the speaker. He laughed. This was his greatest prank yet. Of course, it wasn't going to be for long, but he'd think about that later. For now, he was going to enjoy his accomplishment.

The Next Day

Sakura was pounding Aoi's door. She was raging. She was supposed to turn up for practice three hours before, yet she hadn't come out at all. Sakura had finally lost all her patience, and had now resorted to thumping on Aoi's door to wake her up. She had no idea that Aoi couldn't wake up. She had no idea what Aoi had seen. And, that, THAT was what the prank was truly all about.

FIN