Chapter 1 – Summer (Part 1)
Summer, Part 1
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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The air conditioner at the Ichikawa Thread Shop was an old-fashioned, cooling-only window unit that rattled the window when the power increased.
Standing in front of the air conditioner, Ichikawa Harune, the shop’s new owner, let the cool breeze blow through his soft hair as he thought, “I should probably replace it soon.”
Harune hesitated to replace it partly due to financial constraints, but more so because of his attachment to it. Both the shop and everything associated with it held a nostalgic air left behind by his grandparents, which he wanted to preserve as much as possible while still making necessary upgrades.
Besides, the cold air from this old-fashioned unit felt much better than that of modern air conditioners.
Ichikawa Thread Shop, which had been passed down since his great-grandfather’s time, was a traditional handicraft shop where you could find almost everything for sewing and crafting.
Nowadays, independently owned craft shops are on the brink of extinction. Even major chain stores in department stores and commercial facilities were closing down one after another. With the diversification of hobbies and the ageing customer base, the crafting market was shrinking.
Now, you could easily shop online at affordable prices, and even 100-yen shops carried most of the necessary crafting supplies. In fact, not only basic supplies but also specialised tools like livery hooks and tatting shuttles were often available at the local 100-yen store before they ever appeared on Ichikawa Thread Shop’s shelves.
During his grandparents’ later years, the shop hardly made any profit, and the situation remained the same even after his older sister took over.
When Harune’s sister, Natsuno, consulted him about closing the shop while pregnant with her second child, he quit his job at an apparel manufacturer without hesitation and returned to this town.
It wasn’t because he had some grand dream of revitalising or expanding the store. He simply didn’t want to lose the place where he had so many warm memories of his grandparents.
Natsuno strongly opposed his decision to quit his stable company job. In reality, the small craft shop brought in only a modest income. After taking over the store for six months, Harune struggled with the business.
Still, he had never once regretted his choice. He was doing everything he wanted. The work was incredibly enjoyable.
Opening time was at 11 a.m. At first, he had opened at 10 a.m. like most other stores. But since there were few customers in the morning and more visitors stopping by after work in the evening, he had shifted the hours back by an hour.
He turned on the lights inside the shop, opened the glass sliding door at the entrance that had remained unchanged since his grandparents’ time, and set up the display mannequin outside. The stylish mannequin, uncommon for a local craft shop, was a farewell gift from a former colleague at his previous workplace.
Today, he dressed the mannequin in a knitted top made of forget-me-not-coloured linen thread and a gathered skirt with suspenders, crafted from sturdy, undyed linen fabric. Both were his own designs and creations.
As he hung the ‘Open’ sign around the mannequin’s neck, an elderly woman pushing a bicycle stopped in front of the shop.
“Oh my, Haru-chan, that cardigan is lovely. But I wonder if it would fit me,” she chuckled softly.
The woman, a longtime neighbour from Harune’s childhood, frequently bought yarn and crafting materials from his shop.
“Good morning! I can certainly prepare the same pattern with size adjustments for you.”
“Oh, how wonderful! Is today’s knit your own creation too, Haru-chan? It’s absolutely beautiful.”
“Thank you,” Harune replied with a shy smile on his face. Today, he was wearing a loosely knit crew-neck pullover in navy blue, made from a cotton-linen blend.
“You’re so fair-skinned and handsome, Haru-chan. Anything looks good on you. And you’re so slim too, it’s almost enviable. I’d love to wear something like that where my body feels like it’s swimming in the knit,” the woman said kindly.
While she seemed to be complimenting him, Harune mentally noted this as something to reflect on. Being too thin was one of his insecurities, and although he had deliberately made the design oversized to avoid emphasising his body shape, it seemed to have had the opposite effect. There was still room for improvement.
“Well, I’ll stop by later,” she said.
“I’ll be waiting,” Harune replied, bowing slightly as she walked away. After adjusting the mannequin, he watered the planter next to the shop with a tin watering can.
This morning, five morning glory blooms greeted him. Thanks to the shop facing north and avoiding direct sunlight, the flowers hadn’t yet wilted, even with the sun high in the sky at this time of day.
The balloon vine next to them had green fruits that were simply delightful to gaze at. Both plants were summer staples that he had been familiar with since childhood.
As Harune was wiping the glass door, feeling a bit excited by the cicada’s loud, air-shaking cry from the telephone pole, a familiar light truck stopped in front of the shop.
Peeking out of the window, looking a bit cramped, was Ninomiya Kouki, his childhood friend, with his rugged face.
In stark contrast to Harune’s light build and delicate features, Kouki had a broad, solid frame, as if drawn with a thick marker.
At first glance, Kouki’s appearance seemed intimidating. But the playful sparkle in his narrow black eyes, full of life, hadn’t changed since they were kids.
“It’s already this hot in the morning,” Kouki said, using his large, knobby hand as a makeshift fan to cool his face. But Kouki wasn’t just a childhood friend—his older brother, Naoki, was married to Harune’s sister, Natsuno, making them family by marriage.
Even though they had been seeing each other nearly every day since Harune returned to town six months ago, Harune still didn’t know what kind of face to show Kouki.
But, as an adult with eight years of working experience, Harune concealed his complicated feelings and tried to maintain the appropriate smile and demeanor for a childhood friend and family member.
“Good morning. Are you back from a delivery?” Harune asked.
“Yeah. Dropped off a chair.”
Kouki’s family ran a furniture store, now managed by his older brother, Naoki. Kouki worked as a furniture craftsman specializing in chairs at his own workshop while helping with deliveries for the Ninomiya Furniture Store.
When Kouki got out of the truck, his overwhelming presence caused Harune to instinctively take a step back. Both Ninomiya brothers were tall and well-built, but compared to Harune’s slender frame, Kouki’s size and broadness made the difference seem even greater. Despite only being about ten centimetres taller, the disparity in their physiques felt almost double.
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*Translator’s Note: Allow me to translate something light first before we go back to the darker novels. Hope y’all will like it.
This light novel consists of 5 chapters (221 pages). Hence, I have to cut them into several pieces to be posted here. So, the numbering for my chapter will be different from the original novel. I don’t wanna divide my chapters into parts as well so we’ll just go slowly as chapter 1, 2, 3 until we reach whichever number of chapters we’ll get to. I’ve divided it so that each chapter that I’m posting on the site will probably be around 1K to 1.2K words (except for Mature chapters which will be longer). It will probably go with ‘Summer, Part 1’ and so on since the author named each chapter with seasons. There are also illustrations from the novel which I will scan and post on the site. With that being said, hop on and enjoy! -K
Next update: 2026.06.07 [Updates will be daily until further notice]
You may support the author by purchasing the book: https://amzn.asia/d/dMtabDF [Amazon link]
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Illustration 2:
Other illustration:
