Rascal Does Not Dream Of A Nightingale (青春ブタ野郎はナイチンゲールの夢を見ない) is the eleventh volume of the Rascal Does Not Dream light novels written by Kamoshida Hajime featuring artwork by Mizogushi Keeji. The eleventh volume was originally release in 2020 and in English in 2023.
The following synopsis may spoil some aspects of the first ten novels in the Rascal Does Not Dream series, if you do not want to ruin those stories stop reading until you have.
Book Ten: Rascal Does Not Dream Of A Lost Singer review here!
At the end of the previous volume Sakuta encounters the mysterious singer Kirishima Touko, who claims to have given Uzuki her episode of 'adolescent syndrome' along with many more people across Japan. She specifically tells him about one person, Akagi Ikumi, of which she has imparted a 'gift' to. This makes Sakuta uneasy as Ikumi is a girl he went to middle school with and also ran into at the beginning of the year. She is attending the nursing school at his college but he has not seen her since the entrance ceremony. As he tries to track her down to discover what is happening, he learns of a strange hashtag floating on the internet tied to prophecies. People are posting vivid prophetic dreams on the internet using the hashtag. Sakuta spots Ikumi during Halloween and witnesses her utilize one of these dream hashtags to prevent a young girl from being hurt.
He finds her at school and is able to confront her about her actions related to the hashtags and her overwhelming sense of justice. Once her secret is out she experiences a strange attack, something unseen, assaulting her while Sakuta watches in disbelieve. Through a wager, she encourages Sakuta to dig into their past together to understand why she is putting her own self in danger to save strangers based on vague visions on the internet. Unfortunately, his memories of middle school are repressed and forgotten, a victim of he and Kaede's initial bout of 'adolescent syndrome'. He struggles to remember if they had any real interactions beyond being classmates and understands that her over powering self righteous behavior may be the cause of her current turmoil. Lingering regret over being unwilling or unable to help Sakuta in middle school, when his world was collapsing around him. But he doesn't think that is the reality of her wager and has to dig deep into his past to grab anything that may shed light on her before she ends up destroying herself..
This volume felt quite short compared to others and the story was very focused. I wasn't able to fully recognize the truth, but I was partially right. But by the end, through exposition and dialogue, the reader is well aware of what is going on and the course moving forward is still building to an encounter that will define the overall college arc. Things are definitely getting interesting as actions taken in past volumes are beginning to ripple into the future of the story.
This volume puts me in a weird spot. I am caught up with the English language releases and this was written the day after it was announced that the world of Sakuta is very near its completion, more than likely with volume 14, so it's bitter sweet and frustrating as well. I will have to wait a few months to review the next volume and also be that much closer to being done with these characters that I have grown so attached to. Either way, the college arc has proven to be quite strong over its course. There was some undeniable supernatural activity in this volume but the presence of 'adolescent syndrome' remains an ephemeral thing, opposed to the high school arc where it was front and center. Its great that the narration continues to check back on the lesser characters, to update the reader on their growth...though we do need to spend more time with Kaede, she's been severely neglected these past few books.
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