The Crushed Umaru / The Girl Who Won a Spot

Compared to Miyauchi Hiyage and Kishibe Rohan were already plotting how to send people to hell, the Chat Group was a bit calmer today.

It's late May now, and the semester is almost halfway over. Most high schools will hold their midterm exams during these weeks, which is known as exam week.

Although the girls who obtained the Diary have already embarked on extraordinary paths, most of the girls in the group do not have much ambition. They just want to live peacefully in the group, watching the drama unfold, and do not plan to live in the perilous Reverse Side World in the future.

Therefore, the girls in the group were somewhat more focused during exam week and concentrated some of their attention on their studies.

Although Shinomiya Kaguya will officially enroll in the Jujutsu High next month, she has just spent a lot of effort becoming the temporary student council president and still needs to maintain the image she had before leaving school. Therefore, when she posted her diary today, she did not immediately send a message in the group.

In addition, even Umaru, the most active member of the group, has become much more focused and started cramming before the exam in order to maintain her perfect image at school.

However, it's highly likely that she was hurt by yesterday's lottery.

Although everyone's draws were indeed quite extraordinary, look at other people's rewards.

Water affinity, spirit affinity, telekinesis, Elemental Conversion Magic, spirit painting magic, Byakugan...

It seems there's a girl in the group who doesn't talk much, but she shared a set of "The Theory of Magic" and "Standard Spells for Beginners" as well as a Wand.

Although, according to the You Know Who, nine people received the reward, and one person did not disclose what reward they received, that is not important.

The important question is why she gained the extraordinary ability to throw mahjong tiles at people.

Even if it comes with a seemingly advanced mahjong table that can be summoned at any time to play mahjong and fight with people anywhere, and those mahjong tiles, as ammunition for attacks, can be reloaded almost infinitely as long as there is enough Spiritual Power.

But compared to other people's extraordinary abilities, it's just too pathetic.

"Shouldn't this reward have gone to that woman, Miyanaga Teru? Why did I get it?" Doma Umaru grumbled in the group chat.

Although the Miyanaga Teru in the group seems to be a bit different from the Miyanaga Teru who uses superpowers to play mahjong that the You Know Who occasionally mentions in his Diary, at least the Miyanaga Teru in the group doesn't have any superpowers, he's just very good at mahjong.

But she's only a freshman in high school and hasn't even started her mahjong mastery journey yet. With the current speed of spiritual energy revival, she might actually awaken some extraordinary power related to mahjong in the future.

Thinking about it made her even angrier. On the spot, she drank a whole bottle of soda in a fit of resentment, and then continued to do housework and study with a bitter face.

However, since today's diary goes further and mentions the situation in Morioh and the abilities of Stands, there are still quite a few people discussing it.

Previously, everyone was talking about the abilities of the two bosses, and discussing how the You Know Who seemed handsome and refined compared to these two villains.

One of them blew up everyone who knew about him, and the other tracked down and killed everyone who wanted to investigate him. I don't know how these two managed to hide like this.

In contrast, the You Know Who only talks the talk and won't actually do anything outrageous to them.

Until Tsukimi Eiko suddenly changed the subject.

Tsukimi Eiko: "Am I the only one who noticed the names of these stand-ins?"

"'Killer Queen,' 'The Wonder of U,' and 'Cheap Tricks'—one is Queen's signature Cheap Trick, another is Elvis Presley's song, and the last one is the name of a very famous rock band from the last century. Based on this, it feels like these stand-ins are the cartoonist showing readers his playlist."

Bocchi: "!! It really is! I even uploaded a guitar performance of Killer Queen back in middle school. Here's the link..."

"... If I get a stand-in in the future, can I name my stand-in after the songs from my own band? I'm suddenly a little tempted!"

Hoshino Ai: "Then I'll name my Stand after the song 'idol' that the You Know Who gave me. I think my Stand will definitely have the ability to make me loved by everyone. After all, the You Know Who said that Stands evolve according to a person's spiritual transformation, so I think that's definitely true!"

Suddenly, another wave of people started naming their own stand-ins in the group, even though none of them had actually obtained a stand-in yet.

Black Cat: "He's daydreaming again. But after the You Know Who finishes dealing with Morioh, does anyone in the group want to go to Morioh as a group? According to the You Know Who's explanation, as long as he keeps his mind at ease and is chosen by those Alien Meteorite again, he shouldn't awaken that kind of negative Stand, right?"

Menma: "Emmm, if anyone fails to awaken their powers in Morioh, I can help them. However, you'll first need to live in the Chichibu Region for a year or two. I'm so sorry..."

After more than half a month of seclusion, Honma Meiko has officially emerged from seclusion. However, as a treasure of Chichibu Shrine, in order to prevent the Shrine Headquarters from taking her away using special means, she still cannot go out casually these days and must continue to learn how to control her power.

Even if she wanted to give some perks to the girls in the group, after learning more about it, she knew that because her own power came from the Chichibu Ley Line, even if she wanted to help someone awaken extraordinary power, the other person would have to have the aura of the Chichibu Region, otherwise the chance of failure would be very high.

To guarantee a success rate, even the fastest option would be to settle in Chichibu for at least a year.

Knowing this, the girls in the group temporarily gave up the idea of trying to curry favor with Honma Meiko.

However, if you really encounter any danger, going to Chichibu City for protection is a backup plan.

Shiina Mashiro: "But I kind of want this, a screenshot of the Persona."

Evil Eye: "It's that Persona series that the You Know Who mentioned. It does seem intriguing. Something related to goddesses can't be too bad, right?"

"Persona, if we're talking about masks, it feels like it would go Evil Eye!"

Black Cat: "You've almost developed chuunibyou. Even Yukino-neechan got the Byakugan, but you can't act like that."

Evil Eye: "That was because I misjudged and missed the reward this time. When I get a chance to draw a prize next time, I will definitely get the strongest Evil Eye!"

Ayami (Sudo Ayami): "Um, actually, this Persona... shouldn't have anything to do with goddesses. It's called Persona because it was originally a spin-off series from the main series..."

After remaining silent in the group for more than half a month, having already reverted to using her original name, Sudo Ayami finally posted a message in the group again on the day her parents confirmed their divorce.

"?"

When a name that no one seemed to recognize spoke in the group, and then said something quite technical, the Chat Group was silent for a moment before being flooded with a string of question marks.

As for Sudo Ayami, she described her reward as coming from the Persona 5's Otherworld Navigator App, just as the You Know Who had explained, and included some simple explanations of the world's lore.

Ayami: "That's pretty much it. I spent the whole night exploring the Impression Space yesterday. After encountering danger, I awakened the Persona 'Tomoe Gozen'. Then, I used the app on my phone to find my parents' shadows and successfully defeated them, allowing them to get a divorce today."

"..."

As Sudo Ayami explained, a series of exclamation marks and ellipses seemed to express the girls' attitudes.

The person secretly spying immediately became even more vulnerable.

UMR: "This is unfair! This is unfair!!"

"It can make money, obtain extraordinary items and abilities, and even directly change other people's minds. This reward is too overpowered! I demand a redraw!"

Sudo Ayami: "Um... actually, I think I could also upload this app to the group, but there seems to be a limit on the number of people. Girls in Tokyo can try it out and see if you can download it to your phones."

"Sudo Ayami uploaded a group file that is limited to 4 downloads and can only be downloaded by members in the Tokyo area."

In just three seconds, the message "Group file has expired" appeared in the group.

UMR: "..."

"I just opened a Coke, can I have another chance?"

Chapter 290: The Girl Who Draws a Spot

Although there are only about twenty girls in the Chat Group, most of them are currently in Tokyo, so the four spots that Sudo Ayami offered are quite sought after by the girls in the group.

After Doma Umaru wasted a few crucial seconds trying to open a Coke, the four girls who finally secured a spot were Ai Kisugi, Chizuru Ichinose, Shiina Mashiro, and Gotou Hitori.

The latter two need no further explanation, and the first two have also spoken quite a bit in the group.

In the group Ai Kisugi uses her foreign name Alexia as her nickname. She introduces herself as a German-Japanese mixed-race student studying in Japan and does not reveal her identity Cat's Eye. However, thanks to her naturally outgoing personality, she gets along quite well with everyone in the group.

However, although the You Know Who once casually mentioned in her diary the reason why the Cat's Eye became phantom thieves, she has not yet decided whether to reveal her own identity.

"Otherworld Navigator App, Impression Space composed of collective unconsciousness, stealing the twisted desires of others to make them repent... This reward is really amazing," Ai Kisugi's eyes shone with an unusual light as she looked at the app in her hand.

As a phantom thief, she seems to have a very high compatibility with this app.

And she can indeed use this app to help her sisters investigate the truth of what happened back then.

"Looks like I'll have to come clean with the girls in the group and my sister." Ai Kisugi suppressed the urge to directly click on the app to enter the Impression Space. After all, that Impression Space didn't seem safe, and she needed to make sufficient preparations first.

Fortunately, she is quite handy, and she prepares most of the equipment for her Cat's Eye operations herself.

Moreover, thanks to the reminder in the Diary, she learned that the gadgets used by the Kaitou Kid, who was even more popular than Cat's Eye, were created by Professor Agasa, who lived in Beika Town.

After spending some time, she successfully connected with the other party and learned a lot of techniques from them. In the past few days, she also made a simple upgrade to the equipment of the Cat's Eye.

Now all she needs to do is prepare some more practical defensive items.

Chizuru Ichinose uses the stage name Mizuhara Chizuru. The You Know Who had published several comics exposing her affairs in the Water Diary and also complained about the male protagonist. Therefore, everyone in the group knows that her goal is to debut as an actress, and she is also a rare college student in the group.

To be precise, even though Chizuru Ichinose is only a freshman this year, the only person in the group older than her is Tsukimi Eiko, who has been working in society for many years.

Even Shiho Miyano, who holds two doctoral degrees, is only 18 years old now, and if you count the months, she is actually a little younger than Chizuru Ichinose.

However, as the Chizuru Ichinose, who secured this coveted spot, had no intention of giving way to her "younger sisters."

Faced with Doma Umaru's desperate regret in the group chat, and the envy of the girls who hadn't managed to snag a spot, she had absolutely no intention of giving up the app on her phone.

Because she was really short of money, she was among the poorest people in the group.

A scumbag father, a mother who died of illness, a grandfather who died in a car accident, and a grandmother who is hospitalized.

It's really not easy for her to maintain a normal personality until she got into university.

If she wants to continue pursuing her dream of becoming an actress, there will definitely be more expenses along the way, and given her family's current situation, things are not looking good.

She hasn't joined the rent-a-girlfriend agency like in the manga yet, but she's already started looking for suitable part-time jobs.

If she hadn't received the Diary, she felt that her future would really have followed the path depicted in the comics.

After all, while the "rent-a-girlfriend" industry is indeed quite controversial, it's lucrative with little work and does offer opportunities to hone acting skills. For a college student like her, it would be hard to find a more suitable way to make money.

Now, with the timely help of Shinomiya Kaguya in the Chat Group, and with Hoshino Ai recommending her to several film crews where she could play minor roles, she is quite optimistic about her future development.

But if given the chance, who wouldn't want to resolve their financial problems as soon as possible?

If she could really make money through this Impression Space composed of the collective unconscious of humanity, then she naturally wouldn't give it up easily.

She also cares a bit about the concepts of Persona and shadow.

Although she was a literature major, she did read some books on psychology in order to improve her acting skills, and in the process, she did come across these terms in analytical psychology.

The Persona refers to the outermost layer of one's personality that conceals one's true self, representing the aspect that acts according to the expectations of others.

The shadow, on the other hand, is the innermost layer of the personality, conceptually closer to Freud's "id," which is the most primitive aspect of a person.

Although there are some discrepancies with what Ayami mentioned in her explanation of the Impression Space, she does not believe it is a coincidence.

Since these terms were specifically chosen by the production team of that work as part of the setting, there must be a connection between the two.

According to the other party, in the Impression Space, facing one's inner desires gives one the opportunity to summon Persona to fight.

She felt that if she could do this and successfully summon her own Persona, it would definitely allow her acting skills to break through.

She even wanted to search for her own shadow in that Impression Space, to see what her deepest negative emotions were, which was a rather rare experience.

So she definitely wouldn't give up, and she even took the initiative to privately message Ms. Ayami, wanting to know more about the app.

In contrast, Gotou Hitori looked somewhat embarrassed at the download qualification she had casually snatched by joining the fun.

As someone with social anxiety, she was good at going with the flow. When she saw a new file in the group, she casually grabbed it. Who would have thought she would actually get the chance?

Then, upon closer inspection, she realized it was the collective unconscious, the shadow cast by negative human emotions, and the Persona that could only be acquired by confronting one's own inner self...

What are all these things? Just hearing about them is enough to give me a headache.

Most importantly, although she was practicing with her band members in Shimokitazawa while vying for a spot, she was about to take the train home.

Her home is in Yokohama. She chose a high school in Tokyo to escape the high school near her home and avoid running into people she knew. Her commute alone takes about three hours every day.

This doesn't seem to meet the requirement that the app is restricted to use in Tokyo.

Gotou Hitori had unknowingly encountered a bug, thought to himself with a slight tremor.

Perhaps because her social anxiety was already quite well-known in the group, several girls immediately flooded into her private chat after it was discovered that she had also secured a spot.

Many girls in the group who weren't in Tokyo wanted to come to Tokyo to experience what Impression Space was like. Faced with these inquiries, Gotou Hitori was already sweating bullets.

It was only after Shinomiya Kaguya spoke up in the group chat that these private messages quieted down considerably.

Shinomiya Kaguya: "According to Ayami, the Impression Space contains all sorts of hidden human desires and negative emotions. Although you are all quite young, you should only know that this world is not so clean. Fighting those shadows will definitely be dangerous, and you will definitely come into contact with a lot of filth beyond your imagination in the process. Unless you have extraordinary powers or can awaken your Persona in the Impression Space, I think you should be more cautious and not get so excited."

This sentence immediately calmed the girls in the group down a lot.

Previously, they had been thinking about farming money and items in the Impression Space, and they had somewhat overlooked the fact that these things could only be obtained through combat.

They even forgot what Sudo Ayami herself said about how she was also Persona summoned in danger.

Sudo Ayami also stepped forward, reiterating the "difficulty" of her battle with her parents.

Of course, this was all a story that the You Know Who had arranged for her yesterday.

Ayami: "When I received the reward, I also gained a lot of knowledge about the Impression Space. That's why I went in with a sword I had just bought recently. I used my Breathing Swordsmanship to defeat some low-level shadows. Then, when I was on my way to the location of my parents' shadows, I was surrounded by shadows in the Impression Space. My Persona only awakened at the critical moment. Later, when I fought my parents' shadows, I spent a lot of energy trying to Cognitive Change. During that time, I kept using Reading Points to recover my energy. But in the end, when I left the Impression Space, I slept straight until noon."

Sudo Ayami then created several shadow images from the Impression Space based on her memory, giving the group members a basic impression.

Yukino Yukinoshita: "The You Know Who also mentioned that Persona and Stands are both extensions of mental power, and there are many similarities between them. Therefore, using Persona battle should be quite energy-consuming. If your mental power is insufficient, you should not consider going to the Impression Space."

Shinomiya Kaguya: "Of the four spots, only Mashiro has supernatural powers, right? Are the remaining three of you mentally prepared to face danger and those twisted desires? If not, I think we can use a rental or auction method to obtain the right to use the app on your phones."

After a discussion of the pros and cons, Gotou Hitori, who already had little desire to fight, surrendered on the spot.