Chapter 27 – Winter (Part 12)
Winter, Part 12
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 novels.space, the original site of translation. TQ*
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Kouki, who had been tugging at the hem of his sweater, stopped in surprise and slowly raised his gaze.
“Isn’t this a sample for your book?”
“The sample is M-sized, and it doesn’t have those stripes on the sleeves and hem. I knitted this one to fit your body specifically.”
“…You went out of your way?”
When Kouki asked, as if trying to confirm, Harune suddenly felt embarrassed and mumbled while looking away. “I went out of my way.”
“Then why didn’t you just tell me that?”
“You said that stool was just a prototype, didn’t you?”
“If I told you I went out of my way to make something for you, neglecting my work, wouldn’t that be too much?”
“It’s the same for me. If I said I put my feelings into knitting something for you, I thought you’d think it’s creepy and refuse to take it.”
Harune snapped back, and Kouki furrowed his brow in thought.
After a moment, Kouki seemed to realise something and leaned forward, shifting his weight off his legs and moving closer to Harune.
“Wait, does that mean…?”
As Harune leaned back, Kouki closed the gap even further.
“W-what?”
“You like me at least a little too, right?”
“What do you mean ‘a little’? If anything, I’ve liked you for much longer, much, much longer…”
Even though Harune responded desperately, he started getting shy when he was about to thoroughly confess his feelings.
Kouki leaned in even further. “Then why did you get so mad and cry when I kissed you?”
Harune instinctively pushed against Kouki’s chest with his foot, which he had just pulled out from the kotatsu, as Kouki closed the distance so much he was practically hovering over him.
“Anyone would think it was harassment if you kissed them out of nowhere like that!”
“Who the hell kisses someone as harassment?”
“I thought you might…!”
Just as Harune was about to snap back again, Kouki silenced him by pressing a finger to his lips. His fingertips, hardened by work, had a rough texture that made Harune’s heart race.
“I’m sorry. It’s my fault for making you feel that way. So let me try again. This time, it’s a kiss because I like you.”
“Huh…?”
Harune found himself gently pinned down, and his lips were taken.
“Mm…-” A sweet, sharp pain shot through his body.
He had no idea a kiss with someone he loved could feel this incredible.
Though Kouki’s fingertips were so rough, his lips were moist and sensually soft. As he sucked gently, Harune’s whole body tightened, and he felt like he might cry.
At first, Harune’s lips were confused by the sudden desire. But before long, they began to respond on their own, seeking more of Kouki’s caresses.
“Mmmph…”
Their kiss deepened as Kouki changed the angle, his warm tongue playing with the sensitive membranes inside Harune’s mouth. While Harune was overwhelmed by the flood of emotions and sensations, Kouki’s palm started to smoothly trace the outline of Harune’s body over his pyjamas. One at a time, buttons were unbuttoned.
Eventually, Kouki’s hand slid under the hem of Harune’s pyjama top. Startled by the unfamiliar sensations, Harune pushed Kouki away. “What do you think you’re doing?!”
Kouki, his face flushed with passion, blinked like someone who had suddenly been woken from a dream.
“…Sorry.”
The sweet atmosphere was shattered in an instant, and a deeply awkward tension filled the air.
“Uh… no, um…”
Harune wasn’t truly upset; he had just been overwhelmed by the suddenness and newness of the situation, which caused him to push Kouki away reflexively. Kouki, however, mumbled an apology as he slowly sat up, moving off of Harune.
“My bad.”
“…It’s fine.”
Harune sat up too and hurriedly straightened his dishevelled pyjamas. Ninety percent relieved, ten percent reluctant.
“Actually, I’m sorry too. It was just a reflex…”
“No, if I scared you even a little, that’s on me.”
The fact that Kouki had noticed Harune’s fear made him feel both embarrassed and frustrated.
“I wasn’t scared. In fact, d’you want to keep going?”
Even though he was trying to sound like someone who had plenty of experience, his hands trembled as he reached for his half-finished mug of milk.
Seeing that, Kouki smiled gently, looking both amused and concerned.
“I never want to hear you say ‘I hate you’ again. So I won’t do anything you don’t like.”
Harune was caught off guard. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it… he was just surprised. But when he saw Kouki’s expression—like a well-behaved dog resigned to waiting—Harune’s heart ached with a different kind of pain.
For the longest time, Harune had thought of himself as the victim who had been hurt by Kouki. But he now realised that he had unknowingly hurt Kouki as well.
What must Kouki have felt when he heard Harune say ‘I hate you’ back in middle school, when it was nothing but a defence mechanism? How much had Kouki carried that with him since then?
As Harune sat there, unsure of what to do, Kouki quietly started buttoning Harune’s pyjamas from the bottom up.
“Just knowing that you like me too is enough. I’ve already gotten a lifetime’s worth of happiness today.”
A flurry of emotions swirled inside Harune. But more than anything, the fact that their relationship had suddenly become so sweet made him feel overwhelmingly shy and flustered.
“I-I never said anything about liking you,” Harune mumbled, feeling the heat rise to his cheeks.
When did I turn into this kind of tsundere character? he thought to himself.
Kouki, finishing the top button, leaned in close and stared directly into Harune’s eyes.
“Then say it now.”
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*Translator’s Note: I wonder how long Kouki has been lustful for Harune, that he just lost control like that…teehee. -K
Illustration 8:
Next update: 2026.07.05
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