Chapter 26 – Winter (Part 11)
Winter, Part 11
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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“Stop joking around,” Harune growled, glaring at Kouki like a stray cat on high alert.
After all the torment Kouki had put him through, how dare he mock him like this?
Kouki clenched and unclenched his fists on his knees and let out a small sigh.
“I should have just said it straight from the start. I’m such an idiot.”
Harune, unable to comprehend what was happening, looked around the room in confusion. The small, dimly lit room hadn’t changed since their childhood. Yet now, Kouki, his childhood friend, was sitting there, saying he was in love with him.
“…How am I supposed to believe something like that?”
Harune’s eyes were full of doubt, and Kouki, brimming with frustration, shot back, “I’ve been dropping hints this whole time, you know! I brought you food every day, gave you that 80,000 yen stool without hesitation…”
“Wait… you said that was a prototype!” Harune exclaimed.
“I said that so you wouldn’t feel bad accepting it.”
Hold on, wait a minute. Six stools, at 80,000 each?
While Harune was still reeling, Kouki continued calmly revealing the truth.
“And I kept suggesting you move in with me.”
Now that Kouki mentioned it, Harune recalled Kouki saying things like, “Why don’t you live here?” on several occasions. He had always assumed it was a joke.
Harune, completely overwhelmed, put his hands on his face and shook his head. “Wait, no. This doesn’t make any sense. Aren’t you homophobic? You were so disgusted when it came to Naoki-san!”
Kouki furrowed his brow. “Disgusted? I was just jealous of my brother. I was thinking, ‘Why do you like him and not me?'”
“Wait… hold on. But ever since we were kids, you’ve always done mean things to me, like unravelling my knitting,” Harune said, trying to make sense of it all.
“That’s because I wanted your attention more than the knitting did,” Kouki explained.
“And you used to chase me around with butterflies even though you knew I was afraid of them!”
“I thought you liked beautiful things, so I wanted to show them to you up close. I had no idea you hated butterflies,” Kouki replied.
Harune was stunned as one revelation after another came to light. Could this really be happening?
“But still…” Harune struggled to process everything, his words trailing off in disbelief. Kouki, recalling something, let his eyebrows droop and looked dejected.
“When we were in middle school, I found out you liked my brother, and it completely shocked me. I was confused, and then you told me you ‘hated me.’ I felt like my life was over. After that, you stopped talking to me and ignored me completely.”
“That was…”
“When my brother married Natsuno, I felt bad for you, but I also thought, ‘At least now he’s heartbroken for sure, and as a relative, we’ll see each other more.’ I was thrilled. When I heard you were quitting your job and moving back here, I promised myself I’d make things right and raise your opinion of me.”
Harune remembered how Kouki had been unusually kind and considerate from day one.
The words “I love you” were starting to settle in, like painkillers that gradually took effect after being taken 30 minutes ago.
Could it really be true? Had Kouki actually been in love with me all this time?
“If that’s true, you should’ve just said it from the start,” Harune muttered, still doubting him and sounding accusatory.
Kouki awkwardly averted his gaze, staring at the wall. “The trauma of you telling me you ‘hated’ me was too much. It made me scared to confess. Though thanks to that, I ended up experiencing the same shock all over again recently,” he said with a wry smile.
That must have been referring to the incident from two days ago.
The memory made Harune break into a nervous sweat. He pursed his lips and retorted, “That’s because you suddenly… did something weird.”
“I’m sorry,” Kouki apologised, bowing his head while still seated formally.
Harune didn’t know how to react to this, panicking slightly. He fidgeted nervously.
“It might be impossible to fix things between us, but could you give me one more chance? If you’re happy with your current boyfriend, then it’s probably annoying for me to say anything, but—”
Kouki was speaking more earnestly than Harune had ever seen him. Harune waved both hands frantically to cut him off. “Wait, wait! If you’re talking about Yuuichi, he’s just a friend.”
Kouki narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Just a friend? Do friends sleep naked together under the same blanket?”
“That… that was…” Harune began explaining how the situation had unfolded, but Kouki still looked unconvinced. Harune pouted, feeling frustrated.
“Fine, if you don’t believe me, think whatever you want! If you want to imagine me and Yuuichi were getting intimate, be my guest!”
Pouting and acting like he didn’t care, Harune expected Kouki to back off, but instead, Kouki changed his expression.
“Then what about my brother? You liked him, didn’t you?”
“Of course. I still like him—as a kind, older childhood friend.”
“…..”
Kouki kept staring at Harune with suspicion, and it was starting to irritate him.
“Why do you keep misunderstanding everything so badly?”
“You were the one who misunderstood about me and Hinako!” Kouki retorted.
“Anyone would have misunderstood that!” Harune shot back.
“It’s obvious we’re not like that.” Kouki looked at him like he was being ridiculous, and Harune’s frustration grew.
“How could I know that? That’s why I asked!”
“And you think anyone who sees two people naked, hugging under the same blanket, wouldn’t misunderstand that?” Kouki countered.
In the midst of a fruitless argument, both of them suddenly snapped back to their senses.
Harune sighed.
“So, if you don’t believe me, then whatever.”
“…No, I’m sorry. I believe you.”
“About Naoki-san too, it’s really just a misunderstanding. Just like that chair is to you, the handmade gift I gave him was something casual for me.”
After saying that, Harune remembered that his chair cost eighty thousand yen, and that it wasn’t a casual gift at all, but something with a hidden meaning. Panicking slightly, he continued quickly. “Back then, I gave presents to my sister and my dad all the time.”
“I never got anything.” Kouki pouted. Harune’s gaze shifted to the knit sweater Kouki was currently wearing.
“I gave you something.”
“I wear it all the time, but you didn’t specially make this for me, did you?”
“No, I made it specially for you.”
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Next update: 2026.07.04
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