Stack Overflow

        The time is now 3:00 PM, and Aoi is sitting on his chair, looking at the cellphone placed on top of the table in front of him.

        "This is that, right?...", he muttered, arms crossed, deep in thought. It was just some time ago that he had opened the mysterious package only to find this cellphone placed inside of it. However, his concern was not directed towards the phone, but instead to the piece of paper right next to it.

        "Hypnosis device...", he continues, squinting his eyes towards the abnormality of the situation. After reading the rules set out in the manual, he concluded that the device in front of him is none other than a mind control device. Having read some questionable artworks online himself, he can assure that this is in fact a real thing. But how can he determine that this thing is real?

        Is someone playing a prank on him? However, who could that someone be? For that someone to do this kind of prank meant that he or she must know about the concept of the hypnosis app in itself. Not only that, that 'someone' also must have known that Aoi also knew about the concept too. Which is pretty much impossible. Even though having a bit of a filthy brain, even he himself wouldn't dare expose his other side to those around him, especially his friends and family. So the prankster is a random person? Not really, to know his name and address meant that this is not just a person playing around with him. Also,

        *Beep*

        When Aoi turned on the device, he could clearly tell that this is no ordinary 'on the store' kind of cellphone. The interface is too different from the common one. It also has no kind of trademark or even electronic serial number. Trying to search for anything with the word 'CNTRL' on the internet also bears no result. This is when a person came to his mind.

        "Could it be Kokona...?", he questioned himself. Indeed, the only person that might fit the criteria would be none other than his childhood friend, Kokona Satou. Even though the cellphone was not the same as her usual bright and pinkish design, he knew that she would do some unusual stuff like this. However, that fact must be denied. Reason? If there is a possibility to even control a human brain by using some kind of electromagnetic brain wave shenanigans, then another world war should have already happened. The power that this so-called 'mind control' device then will be a target of higher government and dark organizations. That's the first reason, and for the second? He can't even imagine 'that' Kokona to understand this kind of thing. Once, they watched a romantic comedy movie together at his apartment, and by the end of it, the only thing that she concluded after the cinematic experience was "Eh..... I DON'T UNDERSTAND!", with a confused face, hoping for an explanation from Aoi, yet still unable to grasp the concept of it. Well, when you focus almost your entire life having fun with computers and electronics, you tend to be a logical thinker rather than a creative one. And the third reason? Time and objective. Even though she is capable of doing this thing, it must have required a lot of her time to temper with, or even, make a fully functioning single purpose cellphone. Also, she has no reason to even do this kind of thing, she has always been busy doing experiments that would further expand her knowledge in her skills. So doing this kind of pointless thing doesn't suit her style. Then what is it? Then who is it? Even with all of these thoughts popping up here and there,

        (Man, I wanna try this thing.), a single desire materialized itself. Indeed, it could just be fiction, however, fiction or not, he believed that whatever was happening to him right now meant one thing. Someone, somewhere, was trying to make him use this so-called hypnosis cellphone.

        *Pop*

        As he was focusing himself into the cellphone, a message popped up from his smartphone that was placed on the upper left corner of his table. The message came from none other than the one he was just contemplating just now, that is, Kokona.

        [ Hey! You coming or not!? What about my sweets! ], a message from Kokona.

        (She's mad...), Aoi thought, forgetting the time that he had spent to analyze the unknown cellphone. He looked at the time on the top right corner of his smartphone screen. 4:12 PM, 12 minutes passed their usual meeting time.

        "Oh crap!", he realized, before quickly putting on his casual outdoor cap and slung his bag on. Just as he was about to open the front door, he paused for a moment, directing his eyes towards the cellphone on top of his table. He contemplates whether he should bring it with him or not, but in the end he chose to take the cellphone along with him, just in case anything unforeseen happened.

        *Clack*

        With a clicking of a locked door, he rushed to go to Kokona's place, while also thinking about the need to bring her some sweets along the way.

        * * * * *

        "Let's see... P#cky, Umaib#, K#t K#t, this, and that, I guess this much should be enough?...", Aoi murmured, checking the inside of the plastic bag he hung on his elbow. Inside were some sweets of popular brands which Aoi knew Kokona was fond of. Some might say that in exchange for taking a piece of ice cream, that much sweet doesn't equal in value at all. In fact, it might seem like Kokona was forcing him to buy all of that. However, that wasn't really the case. The thing is, whenever Aoi visits her – or vice versa – they would usually bring some sweets for one another. This habit was developed during their childhood by their own parents whenever they went to visit each other's houses. As such, bringing this much sweets is normal – for the two of them.

        *Ding Dong*

        Aoi rang the bell to the door in front of him. Soon after, he heard a rushing footsteps from inside before the door opened, revealing Kokona who was wearing a casual pink t-shirt and a sports tracksuit. Not really a sporty type herself, she only wears tracksuits inside her house as she felt comfortable in it. Additionally, she was wearing her usual thin circle-frame glasses to make up for her hyperopic – that is farsighted – making her look a bit more mature than usual. Taking a glance towards the plastic bag hanging on Aoi's elbow, she invited him inside with excitement.

        Aoi took a step into Kokona's 1SLDK apartment which has more room compared to 1LDK apartment that he is currently living in. One would expect a girl living by herself to be able to take care of the cleanliness and tidiness of her own living quarters. However, contrary to her looks, she is the kind of person who constantly has her mind cranking all the time, which means more of her ingenious curiosity popping up here and there. Her apartment was an exact mirrored representation of her current state of mind. Pieces of unknown electronic equipment scattered throughout the wooden floor here and there, making it hard for Aoi to move around, afraid that he might break something important, he moved carefully. However, for Kokona, she just tiptoed elegantly between the scatterings on the floor, skipping everything without even looking at them.

        "Didn't I tell you to clean your house? It's hard to move you know?", Aoi complained, but rather than thinking about how hard it is to move around, in the back of his mind he was actually thinking about her safety, not wanting her to get injured if something were to happen.

        "It's fine! It's fine! I mean look! My room is clean!", she replied, opening the door to present her bedroom with pride, which, in contrast to her living room, the hallway and the kitchen, look much better. Even the electronic equipment in her room was well arranged and placed safely inside her cabinet so as not to hinder the space inside the room.

        Kokona then took a seat to the side of her bed, tapping lightly onto the rectangular floor table in the middle of the room inviting Aoi for a seat, but also wanting him to quickly place the bag full of sweets for her to enjoy. Sighing, Aoi placed the plastic bag in which Kokona immediately rummaged through, taking one of the sweets while wearing a blissful expression on her face.

        *Buzz!*

        "Woah!"

        Just as Aoi was about to take a seat opposite to Kokona, ICHIGO – Kokona's drone – surprised him by flying right past the two of them. ICHIGO then grabbed a random snack from the plastic bag and handed it over to Aoi, as if a maid was hurrying to greet a visitor.

        Unlike some other projects that Kokona scattered throughout the apartment, ICHIGO is a part of her main long term project she comes up with, simply because she thought that the idea of having a helper drone following its master around sounds 'artificially cute'.

        "Oghay dhen! Sho me yo werk!", she mumbled, her cheeks filled with snacks.
        "Stop eating while talking... Geez...", Aoi bantered, already used to her happy-go-lucky behaviors. Aoi then opened the buckle of his messenger bag to take out his books and pencil case when he saw the cellphone right beneath his bag.

        "Oh yeah...", he whispered to himself, forgetting about the situation with the 'hypnosis cellphone' this whole time.

        "Hm? What's wrong? Aoi?", looking at the sudden pause made by him, Kokona asked in worry.

        "Eh? Ah... ... Nothing...", he replied. For a moment, he thought about asking for Kokona's opinion about the cellphone but then he realized.

        (If... if... this thing is legit... I would really like to know what Kokona said to me when we were on the rooftop that day...), he thought, trying not to raise any more suspicion. Right now, his brain was split into two factions. The "Don't do it! It's not worth it! Also! Think about her feelings! She might have a reason to hide it!" faction and the "Just do it! She will forget it anyway! If you can confirm her true feelings, then she might also be happy about it!" faction. His mind was balancing through a tight string – that is, if the cellphone really has that kind of fantasy power in the beginning.

        With that, Aoi struggles throughout their study session for some time, switching his thoughts between the cellphone and Kokona. Even with the jumble of mess inside his head, he somehow was able to get a grasp of everything that Kokona talked about. Her explanation was concise, easy to understand and somehow much clearer than the one given in the textbook or the one his teacher rambled in the class this morning. Her ability made him pause on the thought about the cellphone or even the subject, instead he realized, yet again, how great of a person the one in front of him is right now. He was amazed, but somehow felt like he was getting left behind, unable to catch up to her.

        "Kokona sure is amazing huh...", he whispered woefully to himself, while answering the test paper in front of him. Kokona, who was reviewing the textbook for their next lesson, heard his lament, yet maintaining her silence. She then took a silent peek at the bracelet that she wore on her left hand with the word 'CNTRL' inscribe onto it.