I just finished reading volume 9 of the light novel series Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun. This is effectively the last volume before the conclusion of the main story (except for one side story volume later), and finally, they delved a bit deeper into the past between Shungo, Mayu, and Reika. Even so, there are still a few remaining points left to explain.

The story continues right where we left off in volume 8, with Mayu's original personality awakening and running away from a Shungo who was still exhausted from the battle against Hilda. It is clear at this point that pretty much everyone involved in the story is a Kamui (Succubus/Incubus) and possesses supernatural powers. Yes, Reika, Shungo, Mayu, Ryoko, Hilda, and Mikihiko are all Kamui, and I suspect there are people like that in all the Ten Clans.

There is a conflict going on between them over power, and there are various adults (including Reika's father) trying to use the kids as pawns. It is part of the reason why Mikihiko and Ryoko were always away from home; they had to fend off these attempts and keep the peace for their relatives.

Shungo loses consciousness after the battle and wakes up a whole week later. He tries to piece together all the changes that happened during this time by asking Hilda's butler. On one side, Reika merged back with her other personality (after being kind of forced by Hilda) and recovered all her memories. She then left the Ninomiya house, despite Ryoko calling her family and telling her to come back anytime, and went back to her family home. Apparently, she is getting an arranged marriage on very short notice. I am certain this is caused by some memories she regained, but we are still unsure exactly which ones.

Her physical condition is also quickly deteriorating and is highly unstable because of the personality merge and the recovered memories. She needs an energy input quickly to recover (probably from Shungo), but she is fixated on not going back to him anymore.

Mayu is still nowhere to be found, and Hilda thinks it is better to leave her alone for now as she could end up doing something rash if pressed. Shungo decides, upon Mikihiko's suggestion, to return to the place of his lost childhood memories to try and recall exactly what happened back then. We know that Mayu sucked his energy nearly to the point of killing him, but what was the actual trigger?

In the flashbacks, we get to see that Mayu was a completely different person when she was a child (6 years old). She was still clumsy, but she was stoic, highly intelligent, and had a refined way of speaking. She was an avid reader and could even read multiple languages. It is also confirmed that Reika met her (after the initial encounter with Shungo), as shown in another flashback, and even started "befriending" her. To be honest, they had the same kind of relationship we have seen in other volumes, rivals for Ninomiya's attention, even if the Mayu back then wasn't as blatant as the current one.

It was honestly extremely cute to see Shungo "deceiving" Mayu by telling her that "a new library" opened just to pull her out of her room (she really LOVED books). Or the various challenges between Reika and Mayu over who was the best at doing specific things, be it cooking, running, etc.

And now we get to the endgame of the story, with Shungo about to close in on the moment where he lost his memories (that is where the volume ends). Will he manage to do it in time before Mayu and Reika die? Who will get to be at Shungo's side at the end of the romantic race? Honestly, I am still unable to predict what could have caused Mayu to suck Shungo's energy uncontrollably. Reika must be involved somehow, but exactly how? I doubt it is something as silly as a third party bullying them. It has to be something bigger...

I am looking forward to reading the final volume to complete the main story. Hopefully, the author will deliver a good ending for everyone involved. I am trusting him since his other novels all had endings that "felt good".