Yumekui Kenbun: Nightmare Inspector, Volume 2 by Shin Mashiba

Hiroko the Baku must deal with the fact that the woman he dismissed as a mere figment of his previous client's imagination, Eiko Hojo, is a real woman who fell in love with Yoshinori merely by talking to him on the phone. Now that he knows that she is real, Hiroko must smash the narcissistic mirror that Yoshinori constructed deep inside his dream, and introduce Yoshinori not to the mirror-self woman he created, but to the real woman who loves him. Doing so, however, leads to worse problems for the two, but can they overcome them and move on?

Then Hiroko must help a girl who is the soul of a cat beloved by a small boy who lost his mother. Though the cat is blind, she cannot rest until she knows that the boy is at peace, and can stop the hammering she hears constantly. But is the sound what she thinks it is?

And then a girl named Rumi approaches Hiroko about a painting painted by her lover. Thinking him dead, she wants to enter the picture that he painted himself into and live there with him forever. However, when she gets her wish, she finds herself inhabiting a charcoal scribble she drew to represent herself in the painting. But when her true love returns, will he be able to recognize Rumi's spirit before her penitent tears wash away her only representation of herself? Or will he erase her spirit from the painting along with her crude drawing?

And when a new tenant named Hifumi Misumi moves into the teahouse, we learn more of Hiroko's background, and how he came to be a Baku. With Hifumi falling in love with the owner of the teahouse, he decides to search for her brother so he can ask for her hand in marriage, but will he learn the truth of Hiroko's background?

And finally, when a small boy comes to Hiroko claiming to be Hifumi Misumi, Hifumi is upset with the boy for lying. But before he can beat the boy, Hiroko must help him find Hifumi's Uncle Gen, who has died, but no body can be found. Can Hiroko uncover the truth of who the boy is and why he believes he is Hifumi?

Another intriguing collection of stories involving Hiroko the Baku. A new character has been added to the tale, probably for conflict, as he is brash and exciteable, nothing like the laid-back, quiet Hiroko. The stories are wonderful, and most of them end satisfyingly, but with a dollop of melancholy, as they rarely end well. I found the story of the cat-girl the most affecting and sad, as it touched on things that mean a lot to me: My mother, and cats. You may not be so strongly affected by the stories, but this is a wonderful manga that manages to pique and hold my interest with each new volume.