Chapter 35 – Spring (Part 1)
Spring, 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 freenovels.net, the original site of translation. TQ*
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Discovering the changes of the seasons in daily life is always fun.
For Harune, spring begins with the fukinotou (butterbur buds) that emerge beside the back door every year. The excitement when he spotted the small, yellow-green fukinotou, like tiny jewels, peeking out of the ground where there had been nothing just the day before, was indescribable.
The fukinotou always sprout in the same spot every year.
His grandparents would carefully pick them and look forward to making fukinotou miso. The slightly bitter taste was linked to his memories with his grandparents.
While crouching and gazing at the fukinotou, Harune heard a voice.
“Ah, Harune!”
It was Natsuno’s voice, calling from the alley’s entrance.
When he looked up, he saw Natsuno hurrying over, holding Akira and pulling Mafuyu by the hand.
“What’s wrong?” Harune asked.
“I forgot that I made an early morning appointment for Akira at the ENT! Sorry, but could you look after Mafuyu for about an hour?”
It was Saturday, a day off from kindergarten.
“Sure.”
“I didn’t think you’d already be here before 8 a.m., especially since your shop opens at eleven, but that’s lucky for me.”
Harune had already told Natsuno that he’d been living with Kouki for a month now. He had mentioned it in a casual way, saying that because the shop’s living space was cramped, he was borrowing a corner of Kouki’s place, which had extra rooms. Though he hadn’t talked about the more personal details yet, Natsuno seemed to understand the situation well enough and had no reason to question it.
In truth, they hadn’t fully moved in together yet. It was more like a semi-cohabitation arrangement, with Harune spending two days a week at Kouki’s place while gradually moving his belongings.
“How are things going with Kouki-kun? Are you managing the housework balance okay without causing any trouble?”
“We’re fine. But aren’t you running out of time?” Harune gently reminded her.
“Oh right! Mafuyu, play with Haru-nii for a bit, okay?”
“Let’s play a lot!” Mafuyu exclaimed.
Natsuno made Akira wave goodbye by moving his tiny hand, and hurried off toward the clinic.
Mafuyu crouched down beside Harune and snuggled close to him.
“Haru-nii, what are you looking at?” he asked.
“I’m looking at the fukinotous. See? These little green ones.”
Mafuyu leaned in close to the ground and squinted.
“Leaves from the ground?”
“No, they’re not leaves. They’re actually buds. Flowers bloom from the ground,” Harune explained.
“Flowers?”
“Yeah. But before they bloom, we eat them.”
“Eat them?”
“Yep. Kou-nii makes fukinotou miso out of them,” Harune said, confidently speaking on Kouki’s behalf without asking for permission. Kouki would definitely make it for them, he thought.
“Can’t Haru-nii make it?”
Harune, who had been thinking optimistically about asking Kouki to make some after a few more fukinotou sprouted, was flustered by Mafuyu’s innocent question.
“Hmm, Haru-nii isn’t very good at cooking,” he admitted.
“Don’t you practise?”
Pierced by Mafuyu’s pure gaze, Harune grew even more flustered when, suddenly from above, he heard a firm voice say,
“I’ll make it, so it’s not a problem if Harune can’t.”
Harune wondered when Kouki had arrived. When he looked up, he saw Kouki standing behind the two of them, bending over slightly.
“Kou-nii!” Mafuyu shouted, excited by Kouki’s unexpected appearance, and jumped into his arms. Kouki handed Harune the eco-bag he was carrying, then lifted Mafuyu under his arms, tossing and swinging her around. Mafuyu burst into high-pitched laughter.
Smiling at the sight, Harune peeked inside the eco-bag. Inside the semi-transparent containers were breakfast items like rice balls and tamagoyaki.
“If I had known Mafuyu would be here, I would’ve made the sausages into octopus shapes.”
The three of them went inside and gathered around the kotatsu. Despite the arrival of spring as signalled by the fukinotou, the room still held the chill of winter.
Although Mafuyu had been unexpectedly left with his uncles on a weekend morning, she seemed excited and happy about the unique breakfast.
“It’s like a picnic!”
Mafuyu’s eyes sparkled as she bit into a rice ball, gazing at the spread of containers on the table.
Watching her with a smile, Kouki glanced sideways at Harune.
“So, when are you finally moving in for real?”
Harune almost choked on his tamagoyaki and hurriedly washed it down with tea.
Mafuyu watched their exchange with curious eyes.
“Is this really the time for that conversation?” Harune whispered.
Kouki shot back with a disgruntled look. “Why not? It’s good for Mafuyu’s emotional education, too.”
“What is emotional education?” Mafuyu asked innocently, her mouth full of tamagoyaki.
“Emotional education is… well, this kind of thing,” Harune said, grabbing the TV remote and turning on an educational program. Mafuyu was quickly absorbed in the characters on the screen. Harune felt a little guilty about letting the TV babysit her during breakfast, but it couldn’t be helped at the moment.
“I finally got you, but now…” Kouki’s muttering made Harune break out in a nervous sweat. He always had a way of saying things that were bad for children’s ‘emotional education’.
“I’ve been planning to move in properly soon,” Harune replied.
In reality, he had spent the New Year’s holidays entirely at Kouki’s place.
But after spending day and night with Kouki—who seemed to have bottomless ‘stamina’—Harune realised that if they were together 24/7, he would not be able to lead a normal, functional life.
Kouki’s ‘stamina’ was not meant as a metaphor. In truth, they had engaged in all sorts of sexual activities all over the house from morning until night. Harune had nearly ascended to heaven multiple times—both in the good and bad sense.
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*GLOSSARY:
Fukinotou:
Tamagoyaki:
Fukinotou Miso:
Next update: 2026.07.12
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