Hikage Miyauchi in the Illusion

However, with the protection of the Calamity Torrent, there is indeed no need to worry about the Shadow Chizuru's attack.

The only thing to worry about is that her willpower wasn't strong enough and she failed the test inside the Mirror Space.

As for Sudo Ayami, she felt as if she was quickly reliving her original life in the Mirror Space.

She spent a happy childhood while her father was still alive.

Her father's unexpected death brought about tremendous changes to her family.

Then came her mother's remarriage, but she found a wealthy and promising husband.

The result was a domestic abuser who somehow managed to make her mother completely devoted to him and unable to leave him. As a result, her personality underwent a dramatic change in just one or two years of marriage.

Until she received that Diary just before the start of high school, it completely changed her destiny.

However, this is her real-life experience.

But she didn't get the Diary in the illusion.

She was still that ordinary girl who barely managed to get into a good high school thanks to her previous hard work.

Instead of being Cognitive Change and getting a divorce because she obtained the Otherworld App from the You Know Who, her parents continued to torment each other in endless domestic violence.

High school life thereafter remained uneventful.

However, she has completely lost the motivation to study.

He skipped classes repeatedly, even to the point of having to repeat a grade.

She herself was completely unwilling to return to her own family and experience that increasingly suffocating atmosphere, so she simply chose to stay at several friends' houses for several months without going home.

In the end, she ran out of money and couldn't find any part-time jobs. She heard about some special software from acquaintances, who said that she could make quick money on it.

It was at this moment that Sudo Ayami instinctively felt a sense of resistance.

Even given her current state of self-abandonment, she shouldn't have been experiencing these emotions at all.

But at that moment she realized that something seemed wrong.

No, that shouldn't be the case.

How did she end up like this?

She asked herself the same question.

Although she lost her previous memories in the illusion, some subconscious thoughts are very difficult to replace.

Especially since she had already awakened her Persona and faced the dark side of her own heart.

She knows very well what she truly wants now, and there is still a place in her heart for that You Know Who whose appearance she cannot see.

Therefore, a voice in her heart always reminded her not to forget her true self, otherwise she might become just another insignificant existence among the hundreds of clones of the other party.

As a sense of unease welled up within her, she looked at the friend who had recommended the app to her, and suddenly the friend's appearance seemed to become blurry.

Then, as she realized this, she immediately heard the reminder from her Diary.

"The diary holder has voluntarily escaped the illusion. You can now consume 1 Reading Points to completely dispel the illusion. Do you wish to consume Reading Points?"

Upon hearing this voice, Sudo Ayami seemed to awaken from a dream, and her mind immediately recalled everything about the Diary.

Then, the events of reality gradually came to mind.

In fact, less than a minute has passed since she entered this Mirror Space.

In just one minute, she almost relived her life in this dreamlike illusion, and also experienced a future that made her feel even more depressed.

If she hadn't already resolved her inner conflict with the help of the You Know Who, she probably would have remained trapped in this illusion for much longer before she woke up.

She wiped her forehead and looked at the increasingly blurry scene around her. Judging from the current situation, it seemed that she had already escaped the illusion even without using her Reading Points.

What benefit would it bring her to simply pass through this illusion?

As she had this thought, she seemed to feel that her Persona had become stronger than before.

Although the magnitude may not be very large, Sudo Ayami still couldn't help but feel excited after experiencing it.

After all, since she awakened her Persona, although the Persona has been able to grow in battle, the growth rate is not fast, and it only grows little by little.

And now, after only a few minutes in the illusion, her Persona has actually grown slightly.

You should know that there are at least tens of thousands of mirrors in this Mirror Space. If all these mirrors have the same function, wouldn't that greatly enhance her strength?

Of course, Sudo Ayami knew that he was overthinking things.

When they first entered this Mirror Theater, they had already tested the mirrors at the entrance, and there was no special reaction.

Only the mirrors that Miyauchi Hiyage has found so far are of a rather special type.

As the illusion before him completely collapsed, and the sound of the mirror shattering reached his ears, Sudo Ayami felt a warm and somewhat familiar presence beside him.

But when she opened her eyes and saw Miyauchi Hiyage carefully observing her condition, that somewhat familiar aura vanished completely.

Was she mistaken?

As Sudo Ayami thought to herself, she then recounted what had happened to her in the past few minutes in response to the questions from the other girls.

"It must be a warning from the Persona. If I become completely lost in the illusion, I might end up becoming one of its clones."

"Even if it really comes to that, it shouldn't be too difficult to break free from the illusion using the Diary's abilities. However, I didn't consume any Reading Points; I relied on the Persona's reminders to break free and regain my senses."

When talking about her experiences in the illusion, Sudo Ayami still felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Even knowing that that might indeed be the future where she didn't get the Diary, she still felt somewhat uncomfortable.

"Can I experience my entire life in a flash and see some of the 'future' that is equivalent to the original story?" Shinomiya Kaguya muttered to herself, feeling that she was not very good at dealing with such an illusion.

"It might not be the future," Kasumigaoka Utaha analyzed. "It feels to me that it's just a prediction based on past life experiences. As Ayashimi herself said, when she realized she was in an illusion, she found that she couldn't actually see the faces of the people in the illusion clearly at all."

"It's more like a dream than an illusion. Most people don't know when their dream started. They feel like they've been in the dream for a long time, and when they see those indistinct faces in the dream, they don't doubt that they are dreaming at all."

"However, someone like me who already knows my original future might actually be arranged to follow the original script if I enter this illusion under the influence of my memories," Kasumigaoka Utaha said with some disdain.

Although Reading Points in the Diary can be used to escape the illusion early, judging from Sudo Ayami's condition, the Diary probably won't issue a warning before they are completely trapped in the illusion. It's like how it usually only issues warnings when they are actually in danger, and doesn't give them a warning when they make dangerous choices.

Unless they consult their diaries before doing anything, like Yotsuya Miko did.

"If I fail to pass the illusion, I'll become a puppet clone of Shadow Chizuru. But if I pass, I'll receive some spiritual power as a reward?" Shinomiya Kaguya pondered to herself.

"Moreover, tempering one's will in such a dream world might even allow one to awaken their Persona ahead of time."

Shinomiya Kaguya pondered this.

She still has dozens of Reading Points left unused, so if any problems arise, she can still use Reading Points to pull herself back from the brink.

If one could truly awaken their Persona in this way, then that would be an incredible win.

Then, Kasumigaoka Utaha and Shinomiya Kaguya followed suit and entered the corresponding mirrors, guided by the Miyauchi Hiyage.

However, their experiences in the illusion were not as "normal" as those of Sudo Ayami.

In Kasumigaoka Utaha's world, she stepped into the story of the Love Metronome she wrote. As the heroine of the story, she first met the male protagonist who had the same face as Miyauchi Hiyage and they developed feelings for each other.

However, due to her subconscious manipulation, the second female lead, disguised as Shiina Mashiro, eventually appeared and interfered, ultimately stealing the male lead away and making her the final loser in this illusion.

Ultimately, she was so caught up in the feeling of "heartbreak" that she had to spend three Reading Points to break free from the illusion and return to reality with a dejected expression.

As for Shinomiya Kaguya's story, it follows a completely different pattern.

Having achieved transcendence during her middle school years, she joined Tokyo Sorcery High under her father's guidance with the goal of establishing another Shinomiya Family in the Reverse Side World, and quickly became a Level 1 transcendent.

Then, during a cleansing mission, he met Miyauchi Hiyage in Beika Town and discovered his talent. Before Himekage could awaken his extraordinary abilities, he extended an olive branch to him and became the largest shareholder of Asahigaoka Media, turning Miyauchi Hiyage into a worker for him.

Then, they naturally guided the other party to complete the extraordinary awakening, and in a very short time, the other party became a new special-grade extraordinary person.

Thanks to her advance investment, Miyauchi Hiyage remained loyal to her even after becoming a Special Grade, and even became a guest retainer of the Shinomiya Family, securing a lot of resources for them.

Perhaps because the scene described in the illusion was too perfect, she was the first person to discover Miyauchi Hiyage's talent, and there were no other girls around Miyauchi Hiyage.

Therefore, even Shinomiya Kaguya couldn't help but fall into such a dream.

It wasn't until the moment before the illusionary Miyauchi Hiyage, who was to be engaged to her as a son-in-law, that the warning from the Diary and the automatic deduction brought her back to reality.

Finally, the two people who escaped the illusion had completely different expressions on their faces the moment they left.

Kasumigaoka Utaha felt depressed and frustrated thinking about her experience of becoming a loser again, and she was also a little guilty and dared not look Miyauchi Hiyage in the eye.

Shinomiya Kaguya's gaze softened slightly as she looked at Miyauchi Hiyage, but it quickly turned into a hint of regret before she averted her gaze completely.

Chapter 314: Miyauchi Hiyage in an Illusion

Although the two of them had concealed their expressions after escaping the illusion.

But Miyauchi Hiyage, being such a perceptive person, and having been watching them with his Eyes of Destiny activated the whole time, was now going to take a look at them.

The unnatural expressions on their faces probably gave us an idea of what they had just experienced in the illusion.

It's probably some kind of illusion related to myself.

He had thought that the two girls would relive their original story in the illusion, but it seems that the mechanism of this illusion is not as wonderful as he imagined.

Although the illusions are based on their personalities and experiences, they do not actually possess the ability of "prophecy." They are simply unfolding according to the things that matter to them.

However, the Miyauchi Hiyage still has a somewhat subtle feel to it.

Let's leave Shinomiya Kaguya aside.

After all, Shinomiya Kaguya had made quite a bit of her presence in his life and gone through a lot of things over the past month.

It can be said that, apart from Shiina Mashiro, among the girls who possess the Diary Shinomiya Kaguya is the one who understands his abilities the most.

It's not too surprising that Shinomiya Kaguya would encounter herself in the illusion.

But is Kasumigaoka Utaha really that close to him?

He had known Kasumigaoka Utaha for longer; to be precise, he only met her half an hour later than Shiina Mashiro.

However, their initial acquaintance was due to Shiina Mashiro, and it was only after Kasumigaoka Utaha's weekly quest was refreshed and he became truly familiar with her.

But to be honest, his exchanges with Kasumigaoka Utaha were mostly about the creative ideas behind their works, and they only recently talked about things related to Ripple Chi Kung.

He himself didn't really think there was anything special about his relationship with Kasumigaoka Utaha. In addition, there was Shiina Mashiro in between. Miyauchi Hiyage didn't think he had that much charm to win her heart just by chatting with her for a while each week.

However, this also shows that Miyauchi Hiyage underestimated the influence of creators like Kasumigaoka Utaha on her own work.

In the original work, it was because of Aki Tomoya's support and some plot-driven factors that she regarded Aki Tomoya as the person who understood her best. She even prepared to leave the final ending of the work to Aki Tomoya when she was having difficulty making a decision.

Ultimately, because the two weren't as compatible as she had initially thought, she naturally became the loser in the story.

Now, after getting to know Miyauchi Hiyage, seeing the more mainstream "Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend" stories that Miyauchi Hiyage adjusted, and receiving a lot of creative help from Miyauchi Hiyage, I feel...

When Kasumigaoka Utaha was creating Love Metronome, she unconsciously began to emulate the male protagonist of her work Miyauchi Hiyage.

Kasumigaoka Utaha has tried more than once to put herself in the Miyauchi Hiyage while writing, to think about how the other person would react when faced with the plot of the novel.

This alone is enough to make it clear that her inner thoughts about Miyauchi Hiyage are far more complex than her outward attitude.

Even after experiencing that painful illusion, Kasumigaoka Utaha, now back to her senses, thought, "Although it's embarrassing to subconsciously portray myself as a loser in an illusion, it was definitely the right thing to imagine Miyauchi Hiyage Himekage as the male protagonist in a novel."

If the author could fully describe some of the elements from the illusion she just experienced, then the Love Metronome would undoubtedly achieve excellent results.

Seeing the few points of Reading Points deducted from her account, Kasumigaoka Utaha still felt a little heartbroken.

After all, she had only recently gained supernatural powers, unlike Sudo Ayami who had been constantly refreshing her list of commissions related to the Impression Space. The commissions in her task list were mostly related to level one and two cursed spirits and Vengeful Spirit. She couldn't handle these commissions on her own right now, and she didn't have an identity that she could use in the Reverse Side World.

Therefore, she can only rely on the minimum Reading Points for now, and cannot earn more Reading Points by completing commissions in a reasonable way like Shinomiya Kaguya and Sudo Ayami.

"Ahem, anyway, this illusion is really powerful. It's like a dream, and you don't even realize you're in an illusion," Kasumigaoka Utaha breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Shinomiya Kaguya hadn't managed to escape the illusion either. As long as she wasn't the only one who almost fell into the illusion, that was good.

It seems that only a few people like Sudo Ayami are able to break free from the illusion through their own will.

Shinomiya Kaguya did not respond to Kasumigaoka Utaha.

She didn't quite realize it either.

In fact, she did feel a sense of unease during the illusion.

However, these feelings of incongruity were not strong, and because the dream was too perfect, she subconsciously did not want to wake up. She also wanted to see to what extent she could achieve under such circumstances. Her subconscious influenced her judgment.

It's still a bit of a shame.

An illusion is just an illusion; it is not reality.

Shinomiya Kaguya knew better than anyone that she had stolen a lot of screen time from many others at once.

Shiina Mashiro and the other girls around Miyauchi Hiyage did not appear in the illusion; even his older sister disappeared.