Chapter 6 – Summer (Part 6)
Summer, Part 6
Novel Title: ツァイガルニクの恋の沼 (Zeigarnik’s Love Swamp)
Author：月村奎著 (Tsukimura Kei)
Illustrator：志水ゆき (Shimizu Yuki)
Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)
Protagonists: 市川春音 (Ichikawa Harune -MC) & 二ノ宮航輝 (Ninomiya Kouki -ML)
*Please read at universalnovel.com, the original site of translation. TQ*
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In fashion school, and even at his previous workplace, there were people who shared his sexual orientation. These days, it wasn’t something that should bother him so much.
But with Kouki, the awkwardness lingered. Being scorned for his sexual orientation by someone he secretly liked had been a deeply shocking experience.
If that day’s incident was brought up again, Harune wasn’t sure he could handle it. While it seemed like Kouki hadn’t told his brother or Harune’s sister about it, he dreaded the possibility of it being exposed in some weird way, making things uncomfortable between him, Kouki’s brother, and Harune’s sister.
The situation unexpectedly changed the day after Harune returned home. He was working inside the shop, preparing to reopen it after having it closed for a while.
As he struggled to pull an old shelf, which had been used as storage, from the back of the shop, a voice suddenly called out from behind him.
“Need a hand?”
Startled, Harune let go, causing the shelf to topple forward. If it weren’t for the hand that reached from behind and caught it, he would have been crushed.
Sandwiched between the shelf and a strong arm, Harune cautiously turned around and found Kouki standing behind him.
While they had crossed paths at various events, it had been a long time since Harune had seen Kouki’s face up close—perhaps even the first time in his life. Kouki was much bigger than Harune had imagined, and the steady gaze looking down at him, combined with the forest-like scent Kouki carried, made Harune’s heart race. And it wasn’t just from nerves.
“Natsuno told me you’re having trouble reopening the shop. Where do you want this moved to?”
Kouki, sounding like he’d been sent by Harune’s sister, easily lifted the shelf and moved it next to the counter.
“It’s dangerous to leave it like this. You should secure it. Want to repaint it? Or leave the current finish?”
“Uh, well…”
“If there’s anything else you need to move, I can help while I’m here.”
The way Kouki naturally offered his help led Harune to accept without much thought.
For the next few days, Kouki came by nearly every day, helping rearrange the shop, repairing things like the hinges on the door.
The conversations they had while working were simple and superficial—small talk about the weather, their jobs, or about their mutual niece, the child of Harune’s sister and Kouki’s brother. The old mischievous aura Kouki once had seemed to have vanished, and he now seemed like a genuinely good guy.
When Harune thought about it, their falling out had been over ten years ago. Though it had remained a raw memory for Harune due to his unfulfilled first love, for Kouki, it might have been nothing more than a momentary surprise and disgust that quickly faded into something trivial, easily forgotten.
Kouki wasn’t the only one who had grown up—Harune’s other childhood friends had matured into completely different people as well. The girl who used to cry all the time was now a confident mother of two, and the shy boy who barely spoke had become a city council member.
Kouki’s transformation was just part of growing up.
Harune had also changed since those days when Kouki would chase him around and make him cry. After eight years of working in a company, he had experienced his share of hardships and fulfilment, and now he had made the decision to dedicate his life to continuing his grandparents’ store.
He was grateful that the past awkwardness between them seemed to have disappeared.
But while Harune kept up appearances, pretending to go along with Kouki’s casual manner, for him, it wasn’t so easy to bury the past.
After all, Harune was still in love with Kouki.
For a while, he had been angry because of the guilt, and later he had tried to forget. But because his feelings had never been fulfilled, they continued to linger.
And now that they had reunited, Kouki had turned into a genuinely kind, attractive man. It was hard to keep his feelings in check as they began to resurface. Harune, though confused, spent his days pretending nothing was wrong on the outside.
***
“Ma-chan, are your hands getting tired?”
While checking the order slips at the store counter, Harune called out to his niece Mafuyu, who was intensely focused on crocheting next to him.
Mafuyu shook her strawberry daifuku-like cheeks back and forth.
“Not tired. It’s fun!”
At just five years old, Mafuyu had already discovered the joy of knitting. Whenever she came to visit, she would always beg Harune for yarn and spend hours making crochet chains.
Seeing her like that reminded Harune of his own childhood, and he found his little niece utterly adorable. With her chubby hands forming fists, she skillfully worked the yarn. Her knitting skills were already better than Harune’s had been at her age.
“Mafu, want some shaved ice?”
Kouki called out from the back of the store.
Mafuyu stared intently at her work, hesitating for a moment, but she couldn’t resist the temptation of shaved ice.
“I want some!”
She placed the half-finished yarn on the table, slid off her chair, and ran to the back with little pitter-patter footsteps.
“Harune, you come too.”
“I’m still working; the store’s open.”
“Business is slow. You can come back when a customer shows up.”
In reality, the only customer in the past hour had been an elderly woman from the neighbourhood buying a zipper.
“Yeah, it’s not like we’re busy.”
Grumbling, Harune headed to the back, and Mafuyu mimicked him, saying, “Yeah, it’s not like we’re busy.”
“Hey, don’t say negative things in front of her. It’s bad for her education.”
“You’re the one who said it first.”
“I meant it in a good way.”
“Yeah, right.”
Kouki, turning the manual shaved ice machine at a speed that seemed impossible for a hand crank, made shaved ice, topped it with freshly made shiratama (rice flour dumplings), and poured some syrup over it.
The three of them put their hands together and said, “Itadakimasu.”
The simple shaved ice had a comforting taste.
“Did Kou-nii make these dumplings?”
“Yep.”
“Mafuyu wants to make some too.”
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*Translator’s Note: It’s always cute to have a little kid in a BL story. -K
Next update: 2026.06.12
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