Ah, yeah, Alivia is a bit of a special case for sure. That was a choice that felt right for her as a character more than anything.
And I get it. Hats off to Selebus, because any dev out there making a story-rich visual novel using Koikatsu absolutely cannot escape comparisons to Lessons in Love. It almost doesn't matter whether psychological horror is involved or not, even if I'd choose different nomenclature to describe the surreal moments I write into Perfect Pitch. Totally get that, and I'm also totally fine with that. Attempting to develop myself out and away from any similarities or dissimilarities to his game is a quick way to writer's block, in my opinion. Better not to take your writing so seriously that you can't even lift the pen.
So long as I continue to enjoy the process of developing what I feel are meaningful, interesting, and thought-provoking events, I'll continue to do so. And while I would hope the players can see value in that mentality within each update, I also don't have the expectation that every player will love the product or feel like I necessarily did things "right". So far I've built a game that paints pictures of moments big and small in a way I happen to really like— and that's plenty good enough for me.