Huh, it looked much more idyllic in the manga. What’s that white stuff at the water’s edge? At first I thought it was ice, but the picture was taken in April apparently. Google informs me that the pond is good for birdwatching, but I only see huge pink swans - a rare breed, admittedly.
Only slightly 
カメムシ！
They say the water is green, though. In any case, how does the real-world location look not-so-idyllic?
Do “April” and “Ueno Park” make any connections for you?
It’s probably sakura petals, is what I’m saying.
Looking at the relevant panel again, they’re basically the same. Subsequent panels where they’re sitting further in gave me the impression of a greener and shadier place. I’m sure it’s just a matter of what season it is.
Good point. I did wonder whether there might be sakura to be seen given it’s April - but I was looking at the trees, it didn’t cross my mind to look in the water. Too bad the photo wasn’t taken a few days before. Because of the talk of pollution, the white stuff reminded me of some kind of toxic foam, but it can very well be sakura petals.
Hmm. I have found where they’re sitting later on (though I can’t find that faucet anywhere) and it does look to be a bit leafier than where they are in this half. It’s further widdershins around the lake.
A lovely virtual walk after all - and we get to see sakura too.
“Widdershins” is my new favourite word. How come I hadn’t heard of it till now?
Page xxx, Panel xxx, Character: Belthazar
なんですか！
Vocab sheet needed 
Page 63, Panel 3, Character: Mum
Not sure about the ending, すんの
Have interpreted as something する’y which near prank would be better as play a prank, than do a prank.
‘Also play a prank on saito-kun again’
すんの is, like you correctly inferred, just a contracted するの. R-sounds tend to blend with n-sounds in casual speech. So basically the mother is asking casually whether they wanted the natto to play a prank on Saito again. Interesting that she’s perfectly okay with the girls constantly pestering a policeman, I’d say…
I think I actually got the gist of what people were saying this week. However, I feel like I am missing something when さっちゃん gets the natto all over her face. Is it just that it is so sticky it comes flying out of the package on her? Is that a thing that can happen when you eat natto? Unless there is something I am completely missing I don’t feel like anyone really says what happened.
きれい means both clean and pretty. They were talking about how natto is supposed to make water clean, then Satchan intentionally rubs the natto on her face and asks Nonoka whether she’s pretty now. It’s all based on a silly pun basicallly.
Thanks @ChristopherFritz for the link to purifying water with natto, that helped this chapter make much more sense than the first time I read it before reading this post!
Just one small question, on page 66 first panel has 先にしんどくなった方が負け.
I’ve looked it up on DeepL that translated it as The first one to get tired loses. This makes sense based on context, but I’m not sure of 方が負け. Is this a set phrase? I understand it as “direction loses” but that feels wrong?
ive read ahead and finished the novel. that was about a week ago idk why i didnt post this earlier but whatever. i got the second volume so im reading that one now. i like the series im glad i joined this
In this context, 方 would be “side (of an argument, etc)”.
Wow, thanks for the little preliminary lesson on natto purifying water; I had no idea. I’ve actually been eating it for breakfast recently – took a few tries but I kinda like it now. Hoping it’s as healthy as people say. Nice chill little half chapter; they’re not even terrorizing anyone… yet.
Oh my gosh I’ve actually caught up! 
I got stuck way back on page 25 and in about a week and a half I’ve caught up to the thread. Bless it.
(it really helps that this chapter has so much less vocabulary)
I’ve been reading through each weeks thread as I go along and everyone asking questions has been extremely helpful for me to get through the chapters so thank you!
The chapter concludes in Week 10:
Could you maybe elaborate a bit on that? I’m also not sure what this phrase actually means… I too consulted deepl after i completly failed to recognize what the meaning is, but even now I’m not sure:
先に first (as in ahead of)
しんどくなった became tiresome
方が side of an argument
負け looses
So: Whoever became (why is past used here?) tired before the others, looses the side of an argument.
I think Sacchan is refering to the game she played with kotoba on the previous page (so basically whoever first gives up the pointless ping-ponging of シカ and カメムシ looses?). Does that mean that one of them already lost? (Because past tense?) Or is she setting the rules for the game about to begin? If yes: why past tense?
Thanks!
No, the 方 is playing the part of “whoever” here. Whichever (side) gets tired first loses (the game).
The previous page is Sacchan doing both sides to give an example of how the game is played. (This is one of the cases where looking at a later page, then going back to the earlier page can give a false impression of who was speaking.)
The reason past tense is used for a game that has not started yet, I don’t know for certain. But here is my speculation:
The line is essentially, “The one who became tired first loses”.
However, Japanese tense doesn’t work quite the same as it does in English. Rather than thinking of た as being “past tense”, it’s more “completed action”. Thus, when the action of becoming tired has completed, that person loses.
