Light Novel Volume 9 (2025)

Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid
Volume Information
Kanji	青春ブタ野郎はランドセルガールの夢を見ない
Rōmaji	Seishun Buta Yarō wa Randoseru Gāru no Yume o Minai
Written by	Hajime Kamoshida
Illustrated by	Keeji Mizoguchi
Featured in Cover	Mai Sakurajima
Release Date	October 10, 2018[1] December 13, 2022 (EN)[2]
ISBN	ISBN 9784049120172
Pages	296[1]
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Rascal Does Not Dream of a Knapsack Kid (青春ブタ野郎はランドセルガールの夢を見ない, Seishun Buta Yarō wa Randoseru Gāru no Yume o Minai) is the ninth volume of the Seishun Buta Yarou light novel series.

On 3 December 2022, a movie adaptation of the novel was confirmed by Aniplex and CloverWorks.^[3] It was released on December 1, 2023.

Synopsis[]

In March, there is only one month left for the third semester. The day of Mai's graduation ceremony finally arrived.

"Mister, Who are you?" In front of Sakuta, who was waiting for Mai on the coast of Shichirigahama, an elementary school student who looked exactly like Mai when she was a child appeared!?

On the other hand, since the case of Kaede, separately A phone call from Sakuta's father who lived ...

"It's about my mother, she said she wanted to see Kaede. " It was a wish to "see her" from Kaede's mother, who had been hospitalized for a long time because she could not fully accept what had happened to her.

In response to his mother's wishes, he decides to meet her mother with Kaede, but he cannot hide his nervousness at the opportunity to meet her for the first time in a while. An unfamiliar scar appears on Sakuta's body. Is this a harbinger of a new adolescent syndrome?

Story Notes[]

• Sakuta's brief encounter with the younger-looking Mai Sakurajima is cut short when the correctly-aged Mai returns to the beach from the graduation ceremony.
• Mai introduces Sakuta to her mother, who had also been invited to the graduation ceremony.
• After they return home, Sakuta notices a new scar across his stomach towards the right-hand side of his body while he was getting changed.
• Mai then visits Sakuta's apartment with a DVD of her first role to show to Sakuta, who confirms that the Mai he had seen at the beach looked like the Mai from said DVD.
• After noticing Sakuta's new scar, Mai pulls out a marriage application form that she had received from one of her TV roles. Mai and Sakuta write their names down. Mai stresses that the form is meant to be a memento and not for either of them to submit separately.
• At around that time, the phone rings and Kaede picks up. After the call, Kaede reveals that their mother is ready to return home, and expresses a desire to see her.
• The following day, Sakuta arranges another meeting with Miwako Tomobe, confiding that he is anxious over reuniting with his mother.
• March 15 is set as the earliest possible date of the mother's return to the Azusagawa household. Sakuta visits on that date, but throughout the reunion, he doesn't initiate conversation with his mother.
• The following day, Sakuta finds that nobody at school can see or hear him. None of his family notice him either. He nevertheless manages to sneak into his old home and find his mother's diary. It does not mention Sakuta's name at all.
• Sakuta goes back to the beach at sunset, and finds the younger Mai. After conceding that he is lost, the younger Mai leads him to board a train, where he falls asleep.
• Sakuta wakes up in his old home, and quickly finds out that he is in an alternate reality. He had never moved out, yet was still going to Minegahara High School. Kaede had overcome the bullying, because Sakuta had intervened according to Kotomi Kano. He was still friends with Yuuma Kunimi and Rio Futaba at school, and Mai was still his girlfriend, but he had a phone, and his old middle school classmate Ikumi Akagi had followed him to Minegahara High School.
• A meeting with Rio sufficiently convinces Sakuta to seek the younger Mai again. He says he's no longer lost, so the younger Mai takes his hand and makes him fall asleep.
• Sakuta wakes up back in his world, albeit still invisible. He stays behind at school after the lessons finish and night falls. Eventually, he sees the correctly-aged Mai, and she sees him back before running over to hug him.
• With Mai still the only one able to see Sakuta, they travel home. After taking a bath, Sakuta finally expresses his worries over reuniting with his mother. Mai merely states that Sakuta became an adult.
• The morning after, Mai returns to her set. Sakuta eventually finds the hospital ward where his mother was having a checkup on that day. Once his mother calls out to Sakuta and they have an honest conversation, Sakuta's Adolescence Syndrome is resolved.
• Just over a year later, Sakuta begins college.

Chapters[]

• Chapter 1 — March Cameras Rolling
• Chapter 2 — The Shape of a Bond
• Chapter 3 — A Dream of Happiness
• Chapter 4 — Home
• Intermezzo — A New Season
• Afterword

Illustrations[]

References[]