Beneath the cut is a detailed summary of 7 Seeds vol. 22, chapter 114 by Tamura Yumi. Don’t click through if you don’t want spoilers. Download the raw here.
The next chapter starts off with Fujiko wondering about Ban. Her image of him looks more like Ango, though. She asks Hana about him, specifically if he’s handsome. Hana says she’s not sure, and that his long, curly hair covers his eyes. Fujiko says he sounds mysterious and asks if he’s cool, but Hana says he’s more the shy, cute type. This time the guy Fujiko pictures looks a little more like Ban, but a super bishounen version. XD
Suddenly Hana remembers the stone statue by the water and asks the girls if they’d noticed it before. They hadn’t, so she shows them and they agree it looks like a face. Chisa suggests it might be a Buddha statue. Fujiko wonders if that means this is one of the Seven Fujis and there’s a shelter nearby.
They decide to look for an entrance. Fujiko says there’s a hole nearby that seemed dangerous, so they hadn’t explored it. Chisa says it looked manmade, and when they show it to Hana, she agrees.
Hana climbs down using the vines growing along the sides, being careful not to slip on the grass. As she reaches for a vine, her sleeve pulls back and she notices she’s got the same rash as the other girls. She wonders if it’s caused by something in the water or something they’ve been eating, or perhaps the plants growing nearby. It could be anything.
But for now, she needs to concentrate on climbing. As she looks for solid footholds, she notices there’s actually stairs carved into the rock that go all the way down in a spiral. She calls up to the girls and tells them about the stairs, then continues on down.
Under a curtain of moss, she finds a room that leads to another staircase. This doesn’t feel like any of the other storerooms. She wonders if it’s something like the Ryuuguu Shelter. Thoughts of getting buried under there, or there being something horrible frozen inside, flash through her mind. She wonders if maybe it would be better not to go inside.
Just then the other girls call down to her, asking if she’s found and entrance and if it looks like they can get in. She says yes, and that she’s going to check it out. She takes a deep breath. If there’s something useful in there, she’s going to take it. For Fujiko and Chisa’s sake. She doesn’t want to panic and not be useful like in the Ryuuguu Shelter. She yells up at them again that she’s just going to take a quick look and they should stay where they are.
The stairway leads to a huge underground chamber. There are holes in the ceiling letting in light. She feels like she’s seen something like it before, but tells herself that can’t be.
The floor is wet and mossy. The smell of dirt and water and moss fills the room. It’s not just fear that’s making her heart race.
She comes to a door with a wheel on the wall to open it. It appears to be a storeroom. She hopes it’s okay to open, since there’s no “danger” sign posted anywhere. She grabs the wheel with both hands and turns, but it won’t budge. Just then Fujiko and Chisa come up behind her and offer to lend a hand.
Hana’s shocked to see them, but they say they just took the stairs down and that she shouldn’t be the only one to put herself in danger.
With the three of them working together, they’re able to get the door open. Inside the thick door, it’s pitch black. They venture inside and by torchlight are able to see another door. This one opens easily.
As Chisa pulls the second thick door open, what feels like a gust of wind comes out. Inside they find a room full of mushrooms. Fujiko reaches out to pluck one, but it just disintegrates in her hand. Hana finds a shelf full of seeds and stuff, too, but they are just as fragile.
As they’re leaving, Chisa wonders if this might be Utsunomiya. When she says that, Hana and Fujiko both realise she’s right, and that the statue is probably the Ohyaishi Kannon statue. Hana recalls how she’d always wanted to visit there.
After their exploration, they sit around the fire and chat. Fujiko asks Hana if she’s gotten over her boyfriend, and Hana tells her that actually it turns out Arashi is part of the Summer B team. Fujiko is shocked and Chisa says there’s no way that can just be a coincidence. Hana is scared to tell them because she’s afraid they might react like Summer A did, but she screws up her courage and tells them about her dad and his connection with the 7 Seeds Project.
She says that’s the source of the trouble with Summer A, that they had been through so much in order to come here and she had just been chosen because of her dad. Hana is expecting Chisa and Fujiko to agree that it’s unfair, but instead Chisa says that if Summer A were upset about that, they are very naive.
She says it’s only to be expected and that’s why she’s here, too. Her grandfather is a politician and probably was involved with the project in some way. He probably used his money and influence to get his granddaughter included. She says when she meets Summer A, she’ll have to teach them more about the real world.
Fujiko says that now that she thinks of it, her parents were both doctors and probably had some connections. Chisa agrees and says there’s no way they were chosen by pulling names out of a hat. She tells Hana that the fact that her dad was able to get his daughter and her boyfriend in the project means he was very influential and he must have worked himself to the bone for this project.
Chisa’s unexpected words really touch Hana, especially when she says Hana should be proud of her father.
Then Chisa adds that she could see her grandfather doing the same thing and getting her fiance included. Fujiko’s shocked that she’s engaged, but Chisa says she’s never met the guy. He’s just someone her grandfather wanted her to marry.
He went to a US university and started a company while he was still in college. He even had a seasonal name, now that she thinks about it.
Suddenly Hana has a suspicion. “Um…this guy, his name wouldn’t happen to be Akio, would it?”
“Oh, do you know Haza Akio?” Chisa replies.
“He’s on the Autumn team!”
Chisa is not too surprised by this revelation, but Hana is completely flustered. Meanwhile, Fujiko asks what he’s like and if he’s handsome. Hana says he’s kind of scary, but he did say some kind things. She says she’s not sure he and Chisa would suit each other, but Chisa says she has no interest. That’s when Hana remembers Ran, and thinks, What if this becomes a love triangle!?
However, a sudden strong burst of wind interrupts her thoughts. It rustles the leaves and she thinks the huge tree looks as if it’s twisting and howling. I thought it was just my imagination.
That night there are many loud noises as the girls try to get to sleep. Chisa wonders if this is the start of a change in seasons.
They talk of moving somewhere else, maybe looking for the others. Fujiko says maybe they’ll run into them as they’re searching for Hana, but Hana says they probably think she’s dead. Fujiko says they’ve probably been written off as well.
Hana thinks that maybe she really did die once. She says she feels like she’s been reborn here. With that, the three of them pledge to live her, not just because they have no other choice, but as a part of this new world.
Leave a Reply