Nightmare Inspector: Yumekui Kenbun, Volume 9 Book

[Mizuki's brother Azusa had been depressed, and even becoming a Baku hadn't helped so he sought a way to lose himself. Because of the horrific life being lived by Chitose - the person Hiruko had been before becoming a Baku - his nightmare was deep, twisting, and so horrible that a baku might get lost in it instead of being able to eat it. So Azusa decided to go lose himself in the nightmare and turn the responsibilities of the baku over to Chitose.

But Chitose died in a devastating earthquake that happened just minutes before Azusa carried out his plan. Unable to accept the loss and lost in his desire to be swallowed by the nightmare, Azusa brought Chitose to the Delerium, where his fantasy solidified to make Hiruko - or a figment of Azusa's imagination at least - sort of real. This is why Hiruko can't remember anything except the bad parts - they're the parts of his life Azusa was focused on. And the bits he didn't know, like personality, he filled in from the aspect of himself that he no longer felt. Things like his love for his sister (which is why he doesn't remember her when Hiruko visits him in the nightmare - those memories had been put into the fake Hiruko.

And since both Azusa and Hiruko are sort of the same person, Mizuki's asked to pick - which person does she want to remain in real;ity, because there's a whole lot of bad things happening from Azusa's fantasy being out in real life.

And Mizuki picks her brother over Hiruko.

I know this set a lot of people off, but honestly, I thought it worked. This wasn't a happy series, so expecting a wholly happy ending wasn't going to happen. But moreover, they've spent a lot of small moments in the first 8 books drawing a huge arrow over the fact that Mizuki does not care about Hiruko a fraction of how much he cares for her. In case we missed it, even Hifumi feels the need to put a little star next to it, asking what exactly she feels about Hiruko. And then Hiruko saves her from answering by saying *he doesn't care.* So the idea that she would pick him over her brother, who she pines over like allll the tiiiime.

But it's worth noting because I can imagine that wrecks the series for some people.

It does leave me wondering how Hifumi did afterward. He clearly cared a lot about both of them, but at the end, he's the one with Hiruko as he fades away.

But anyway - this book has a couple issues. That synopsis is probably not 100 percent accurate, but I had trouble getting everything the first time through. This was not helped by art that, for the first time, lost me. There were just panels that I couldn't work out. So these detracted from the enjoyment somewhat.
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