A rascal, a board game, and a game night that was supposed to be simple.
Azusagawa Sakuta just wanted a quiet summer. Instead, he found an old board game left behind at his part-time job—"Youth Sugoroku: Musubi Dice"—and brought it home as a souvenir for his little sister. But the moment Kaede saw the box, her smile flickered, and something dark surfaced in her eyes.
No rulebook. No numbers on the die. Just strange symbols, and a board that looks suspiciously like their own neighborhood—Minega
Rascal Does Not Dream of Everyone Playing Games - The panel that draws attention, and the gazes that pass each other by
Friday night.
A sweet scent unlike any other drifted through the living room of Azusagawa Sakuta's apartment.
A white box sat on the table. A ribbon-tied cake box with the shop's name on it. Beside it lay that old board game, *Youth Sugoroku: Musubi Dice*, quiet with its lid still closed.
"Here. A little something for you."
Sakurajima Mai gave her long black hair a soft shake and pushed the cake box toward Sakuta. Her rabbit-shaped hair clip glinted under the living room light. Her clear dark eyes carried that familiar hint of mischief.
"Oh, thanks. ...Wait, I didn't hear anything about you coming today."
Sakuta scratched at his sleep-tousled black hair and set plates from the kitchen onto the table. His deep brown eyes were half-lidded as usual. No Minegahara High uniform today, no part-time job polo either—just a light gray set of loungewear.
"Oh? Does a girlfriend need a reason to visit? Or is there something you're feeling guilty about?"
Mai swept her hair back with her right hand. There was a magnetism in that gesture—the kind only a professional entertainer possessed. Her posture straightened unconsciously, and somehow the air around her seemed different.
"If we're talking guilty, I've got a mountain of it. ...Like how last night's dinner was instant noodles, for instance."
"Think about your nutrition. Kaede's eating with you too, isn't she?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be more careful from now on."
As he spoke, Sakuta opened the cake box. Inside were two strawberry shortcakes topped with berries on pure white cream, and one chocolate cake.
"This one's for Kaede. She likes strawberries, right?"
Mai pointed to the cake with the biggest strawberry and the prettiest decoration.
"...Mai-san, you even know Kaede's preferences?"
"That girl told me strawberries were her favorite when we talked about fruit before. I do listen, you know."
Her voice carried just a touch of pride.
"As expected of Japan's sweetheart. Your observation skills are something else."
"Flattery won't get you anything."
A gentle warmth flowed between them.
From outside the window, a night breeze tinged with the scent of the sea stirred the curtains. Beyond the balcony, the Shonan coast was faintly visible. The sea that sparkled blue by day now lay dark and silent.
"So, is that the game you mentioned?"
Mai's gaze shifted to the board game on the table.
"Yeah. Picked it up at work the other day."
Sakuta lifted the box and placed it in front of Mai.
"*Youth Sugoroku: Musubi Dice*... It's old. What company made it?"
"That's the thing—it's not written anywhere. No rulebook either. And the die doesn't have numbers on it—it's got these weird symbols carved into it."
Sakuta opened the box and pulled out a cloth pouch. He loosened the drawstring and rolled the die onto the table.
*Click.*
A die with a different symbol on each of its six faces. Instead of numbers: a human figure, two hands clasped together, a wave-like shape, an eye-like shape, a star-like shape, and two arrows pointing in opposite directions.
"...They really aren't numbers."
Mai picked up the die and stared at it.
"And check out this board."
Sakuta took the board from the box and spread it on the table. A faded board made of thick cardstock. On it were drawn the Shonan sea and a familiar school building.
"Minegahara High... and the Shichirigahama coast too."
Mai's finger traced slowly across the board.
The school building square. The rooftop square. The schoolyard square. And beyond them, a square of sea dyed in sunset colors.
"...This brings back memories."
Her voice softened, just slightly.
Sakuta didn't miss the look on her face.
Mai was a national star who'd been a child actress. She'd been on TV since she was small, treated specially at school, and no one had ever tried to see the real her. Until Sakuta met her, she'd been alone at school the whole time.
The school building drawn on this board wasn't a place of only happy memories for Mai.
Sakuta knew that.
But he deliberately said nothing.
He'd wait until Mai chose to talk about it herself. That was his way.
"Big brother! Mai-san! Let's eat cake!"
The living room door flew open and Azusagawa Kaede burst in, wearing panda-print pajamas. Her bright hair, falling to her shoulders, bounced softly. Her big dark eyes lit up the moment she spotted the cake box.
"Wow, strawberry cake! Kaede wants to eat this one!"
"Yes, that one's for you, Kaede-chan. Go ahead."
Mai held out the strawberry shortcake to Kaede.
"Thank you, Mai-san! Time to dig in!"
Kaede happily picked up her fork.
Watching that innocent smile, Mai's expression seemed to cloud over for just an instant.
Sakuta noticed the change.
But again, he said nothing.
After the three of them finished their cake, Kaede piped up cheerfully.
"Big brother, Mai-san, let's play this game now! Kaede's been really looking forward to it!"
"You don't even know the rules, do you?"
"It's fine! We can figure out the rules as we go! Right, Mai-san?"
Kaede peered up at Mai's face.
"That's right. If there's no instruction manual, let's just make it up as we go, the three of us."
Mai gently stroked Kaede's head.
"Yay! Then I'll pick my piece! Kaede wants the panda one!"
What Kaede pointed to was a small panda-shaped token, black and white.
"You really love pandas, huh."
"Pandas are justice!"
"Yeah, yeah. Then I'll go with this one."
Sakuta casually picked up a token of a boy in blue clothes.
"I suppose... this one for me."
Mai chose a token of a woman in a black dress.
"Somehow that's very you, Mai-san."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing. Just a feeling."
"Hmph. Fine. Then the order for rolling the die... by age, shall we?"
"By age? So you go first, Mai-san."
"Yes. I'll start."
Mai picked up the die with the symbols carved into it.
"...Here I go."
Mai rolled the die.
With a light clatter, it tumbled across the table.
The face it landed on bore the eye-like symbol.
"What is this symbol?"
"Beats me. No rulebook. For now, let's just move however many spaces based on what we rolled."
"But since it's not a number, we don't know how many spaces to move."
"Then let's just say three spaces and be done with it."
"Isn't that a little too arbitrary?"
"The whole game's arbitrary, so what can you do."
"Honestly, hopeless."
Mai moved her black-dress token three spaces.
There was small text written on that square.
"'*Too much attention—can't move a single step*'... Huh?"
The square where Mai's token stopped. On it was drawn a crowd of people, and in the center, a woman standing frozen.
"What kind of square is this? You can't move?"
"...Apparently not. I suppose that means I skip a turn."
Mai gave a wry smile.
"...This is just like my life."
Her voice echoed quietly.
Those words carried a weight far deeper than Sakuta had imagined.
As a national star, Mai had always been in the spotlight.
Appear on TV, and her face spread, her name became known, and walking down the street meant being recognized.
But because of that attention, she was isolated at school, couldn't make friends, and no one ever saw the real her.
*Too much attention—can't move a single step.*
That was exactly Mai's life up to now.
Sakuta didn't know how to respond, so he fell silent.
"...Mai-san, that must have been really hard for you."
Kaede looked at Mai's face with worry.
At that innocent kindness, Mai's expression flickered with something like confusion for a moment.
"I'm fine. I'm used to it."
Mai answered with a smile.
But that smile looked, just slightly, like the forced smile Kaede sometimes wore.
"Then it's Kaede's turn next! Kaede will roll too!"
Kaede cupped the die in both hands and gave it a hearty toss.
The die tumbled and stopped.
The symbol that came up was the clasped hands.
"The hand-holding symbol! This feels like something good will happen!"
Kaede hopped her panda token forward five spaces.
"'*Family dinner table*'... Wow, this square feels so warm!"
The square where Kaede's token stopped had a picture of a family gathered around a dining table.
"Kaede-chan, you landed on a nice square."
"Yes! Kaede loves family dinners! Eating with big brother every day is so much fun!"
Kaede looked toward Sakuta and beamed.
"Is that so. Then next time I'll make your favorite hamburger steak."
Sakuta ruffled Kaede's hair.
His touch was so gentle.
His smile was so soft.
Mai watched the scene in silence.
The way Sakuta looked at Kaede.
The smile Sakuta showed Kaede.
The affection Sakuta poured into Kaede.
It was warmer, kinder, more earnest than any expression Mai had ever seen from him.
Mai felt something complicated she couldn't explain.
A tightness deep in her chest.
Was this jealousy?
Or was it something else?
She didn't know.
"...Sakuta."
"Hm? What's wrong, Mai-san?"
"...It's nothing. You're next."
Mai turned her gaze back to the board.
Her hand was clenched tight on her lap.
"Right. I'll roll, then."
Sakuta rolled the die.
The symbol that came up was the wave shape.
"A wave. So four spaces, I guess."
Sakuta moved his blue-clothed boy token four spaces.
"'*Doesn't read the room*'... Hey, what kind of square is this? Is this a jab at me?"
The square where Sakuta's token stopped had a picture of a boy facing the opposite direction from everyone else, oblivious to the mood around him.
"Oh my, isn't that fitting."
"Big brother is great at not reading the room!"
"Don't say it like it's a talent. I just choose not to read it."
"That's even worse."
Mai let out a small giggle.
Seeing that smile, Sakuta felt a little relieved.
The tension from earlier seemed to ease, just a bit.
"Then it's Mai-san's turn again! But your piece was on a skip turn, right?"
"Yes. So this time it's Sakuta's turn."
"Wait, me again? Doesn't it feel like you're always sitting out in this game, Mai-san?"
"It can't be helped. My piece gets too much attention to move."
Mai's tone was light.
But behind those words, that weight still seemed to lurk.
Sakuta rolled the die.
This time the symbol was the star shape.
"A star? Still makes no sense. ...Whatever, six spaces."
Sakuta moved his token six spaces.
"'*Passing each other by*'... What the hell is this. Another weirdly pointed square."
The square where Sakuta's token stopped showed two figures walking away from each other, backs turned.
"Passing each other by... That's kind of a sad square, isn't it."
Kaede peered at the board.
"...Yes."
Mai's voice dropped slightly.
That was when it happened.
The surface of the board began to glow faintly.
"...What?"
Sakuta couldn't believe his eyes.
In the center of the board, between the school building square and the sea square, text was rising to the surface.
"*A message from the Administrator.*"
The words glowed pale and blue-white, as if someone were illuminating them from within.
"W-what is this... Big brother, what's happening?"
Kaede clung to Sakuta's arm.
"...I don't know. But it's okay. Kaede, stay behind me."
Sakuta shielded Kaede behind him and stared at the board.
"*A message from the Administrator.*"
That was all the text said.
Nothing else was written.
The words simply rose slowly to the surface, then vanished with a flicker.
"...It's gone."
Mai murmured softly.
And then.
*Click.*
The die that had been sitting on the table rolled on its own.
No one had touched it.
No wind, no vibration, nothing.
And yet the die rotated slowly, as if it had a will of its own.
Then it stopped dead.
"...Passing each other by."
Kaede's voice was trembling.
The face pointing up on the die.
Carved into it was the shape of two arrows pointing in opposite directions.
The '*Passing each other by*' symbol.
"...I'm going home today."
Mai rose quietly to her feet.
"Mai-san...?"
Sakuta looked up at Mai's face.
Her expression wasn't the one she usually wore when teasing him.
A little lonely.
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