I haven’t had much time to work on this, or any of the other dozens of projects I’m juggling, and meanwhile Tsukihana Scans has been updating quite frequently with their scanlations and are already on volume 19! So I began wondering whether it was really worth it to keep working on the summaries for vols. 20 and 21. I mean, I originally started writing these because the scanlations were so, so far behind. And now they’re not.
Anyway, I had already done most of the first chapter of vol. 20 when I decided to (maybe) call it quits, so I just finished up the chapter tonight. I may finish up this volume, or I may not, just depends on how much time I have to devote to it and how fast Tsukihana works. XD But for now there’s this. :)
Beneath the cut is a detailed summary of 7 Seeds vol. 20, chapter 102 by Tamura Yumi. Don’t click through if you don’t want spoilers. Download the raw here.
The volume opens with Arashi’s question: “Why didn’t you just run away?”
The scene then switches to Semimaru, Matsuri, and Ryou. Something’s moving, and Semimaru thinks it’s missiles. “No way,” Matsuri says. “It couldn’t really be missiles, could it?” She says maybe it’s fuel or something.
There’s a brief flash to Ango again, with just the word “Why…?” like an echo. Then it’s back to Semimaru & co. Even if it’s missiles, that’s not something they can eat, so Semimaru says they should just ignore it. Matsuri agrees and they wonder how they can move higher in the ship when there doesn’t seem any way up. Semimaru leaps around and manages to make it up onto a higher level, and though he expects Ryou to be angry with him, Ryou just exasperatedly agrees that’s probably the best thing to do.
They wander along calling out for Natsu, Ryou still tapping on the walls to try and communicate with Ango. But then he hears a voice. It’s coming from a vent, and they quickly identify it as Ango’s voice. He’s talking about their test, which Ryou doesn’t like. But then another voice interrupts: “Why didn’t you just run away?” Matsuri and Semimaru cry out excitedly, but Ryou silences them, wanting to hear the rest of the conversation.
Arashi asks couldn’t they have all worked together to get out and get help? He asks if they were on an island or locked up or guarded by people with weapons, and Arashi says no, but then insists that there was no use in running because then they wouldn’t have been chosen. Arashi asks if he wanted to take the test, then, and Arashi says no, but keeps insisting that of course they had to come to the future. “Something’s not right, Ango-san!” Arashi says. “Something’s not right with what you’re saying! You’re clearly in pain right now, so how can you say ‘of course’!? What did those teachers do to you!?”
Semimaru starts to ask Ryou about Ango’s revelation, but Ryou interrupts and tells him they need to get through the vent to where the others are.
Meanwhile Arashi keeps pressing Ango about it, asking him if they really all took the test knowing people would die, if they wanted to go to the future so badly they didn’t care if their friends died. He says they were brainwashed. Ango gets more and more flustered, thinking about how he was the only one who knew what would happen if they didn’t take the test, since he’d seen Nobara. He insists to himself that there was no other option, that everyone else would have felt the same had they known. He argues with Arashi, telling him it was his own decision. But Arashi keeps asking him if he really thought about it, if he thought about why they had to come to the future, why they couldn’t run, etc.
Arashi starts crying, and Ango wonders why he can’t answer him when the answer is so clear. Then Arashi says he’s been horrible to Ango, that what he was saying is like asking someone who’s been abused why they don’t just leave their abuser. He says he’s more angry with the teachers for making Ango and them unable to think for themselves than for killing people.
Natsu starts crying, too, and as Ango insists again that there was no escape, Arashi says there was, there always is, they were just made to believe there wasn’t, made to believe it was their choice. “You shouldn’t have taken the test,” he says, and that seems to shock both Ango and Ryou.
Arashi tells him they’re the same, that they were all sent here without being asked or given a choice. He says they were just made to think they wanted to go, but that Summer A and Summer B are really the same. “But now…we’re free,” he says. “Now we can make our own choices.”
This just causes Ango more pain, as he asks, “So then what about Shigeru? It’s my fault he died for a test we shouldn’t have even taken!” And Arashi tells him that under those circumstances, nothing that happened was his fault.
Then Ryou speaks up. Natsu, Arashi, and Ango look up to see Ryou, Semimaru, and Matsuri. Ryou says there’s something he never told Ango, that he wasn’t sure if he should tell him or not, but now he thinks not telling him was the wrong decision. “When you were hanging there in the cave,” he says, “it was Shigeru…who cut the rope.”
Ango says Ryou’s the one who cut it, and Ryou says he did, but at the same time he cut it, he felt Shigeru cutting it as well, that Shigeru cut it in order to save Ango. Ango says Shigeru would never do that, and Ryou says he thought so, too. He thought Shigeru was weak and stupid. Ango protests that he didn’t think that, but Ryou says yes he did, and that Ango never thought Shigeru could save him, because he was the one who most refused to see what Shigeru could do.
Ryou says he saw the things Shigeru did for Ango during the test. Going up against Ukai, leading Ukai into the forest, and then going down into the cave to save Ango. He says it changed his opinion of Shigeru a little, and that Shigeru was more use that night than Ango was by far. “You can’t admit it, can you?” he presses. “You want to think Shigeru died because of you.” He tells Ango he’s full of himself. Shigeru made his own choices, and it wasn’t Ango’s fault that he did.
He tells Ango that Shigeru died to protect him, and that it’s probably something Shigeru was proud of. “Admit it,” Ryou says. “He’s not your property. He’s not a minor character in your story. Let him be the main character for once.”
Ango then remembers Shigeru promising to rescue him, and saying that this never happens, so he’s actually glad to have a chance to rescue Ango for once.
Ryou tells him that Shigeru told Ukai that Ango would be the one to go to the future. Someone who makes their own decisions, makes their own moves, and takes responsibility, that’s who should go to the future according to Shigeru. “Be that person, Ango,” Ryou tells him.
Ango sees himself walking with Shigeru. This time Shigeru is telling him Ango never trusted him, always treated him like a little brother. He said he wanted to be friends, to be equals. “We are friends,” Ango says. “Then you wouldn’t get annoyed if I came in first?” “Well…I would,” Ango says. “‘Cause then we’d be rivals.” And Shigeru says, “I like the sound of rivals.”
Then Ango says there were things he never said to Shigeru, like thank you and I’m sorry, things he was too stubborn to say. He says he would have died without Shigeru, and thanks him for saving his life. “Good luck in the future,” Shigeru says, and clasps Ango’s hand. “See ya.”
Back in reality, Ango looks at his empty hand and then starts crying while the others look on.
After a while, Ryou says he’s coming up, that they should all climb up and meet at the top. When Arashi asks Ango if he can make the climb, Ango turns and makes to punch him, but stops with his fist right on Arashi’s jaw.
As Ango begins to climb, he remembers Akio saying they’d been sheltered, and now realizes maybe he was right. Semimaru says there’s nothing wrong with being sheltered. He says a wildflower can never be anything but wild, but a hothouse flower can be anything. Ango doesn’t answer him, but instead yells at Natsu to hang on and climb up herself.
Arashi’s words echo in Ango’s head: “But now we’re free. Now we can make our own choices.” He also remembers Akio saying there’s joy in choosing one’s own path.
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