Blue Seed Episode 15

    Episode fifteen begins with Kaede and Murakumo standing silently in front of a persimmon tree. Murakumo murmurs cryptically, "You must bare better fruit or I will have to cut you back." Kaede responds by saying in a disheartened way, "We will bare better fruit. Please forgive us." After this enigmatic interchange, Murakumo then turns to Lord Susano-oh and asks what they should do. Susano-oh's response is to awaken a nearby Kappa so that it can protect the tree.
    The story abruptly shifts to a construction site where the newly awakened Kappa begins to run amok, destroying everything within sight. The next day, Matsu and Yaegashi are talking with the construction site manager, who is not at all cooperative in answering their questions. And while they are dealing with his irritating reticence, Momiji and Kome are accosted by a local girl who mistakes Momiji for Kaede.
    The girl takes them back to the tourist hostel that her parents run and begins to ask questions about Kaede, which the members of the TAC are uncomfortable trying to answer. During the course of conversation, Momiji learns how wonderful Kaede was: kind, smart, mature and very graceful. And then her thoughts begin to dwell on her own shortcomings and she begins to doubt that she can ever capture Kusanagi's attention because, in her mind, there is no way she can compete with the perfect Kaede.
    While Momiji is agonizing over this new information, the story shifts to Kusanagi, kneeling on the forest floor, searching for Aragami activity. He stands and looks at his hand..... Then we see Sakura getting of the train, under impressed by the Japanese countryside and its people.
    Back to the hostel, it's time for a bit of fun as a drunken Kome finds bending Yaegashi into a human pretzel a good way to while away the hours. Momiji hardly notices them, though, lost in her own thoughts surrounding Kaede and Kusanagi, and later, as Momiji is walking outside, she runs into Kaede's friend again who asks her if Kaede ever told Momiji about her prince. Momiji replies in a puzzled way and learns that Kaede was not only aware that Kusanagi was watching over her, but that she was also secretly attracted to him. Just another thing for Momiji to add to her growing discontentment.
    While she is musing over this new information, Kusanagi appears. Her face lights up when she sees him and then falters in disappointment when she learns that he's not there to see her, but to chase after Aragami. Still wrapped up in her depressing thoughts, Momiji recklessly gives voice to her doubts by asking him if he's worried about Kaede. Immediately realizing her mistake, and seeing the look on his face, she starts babbling and trips and falls. Kusanagi comes over to her and offers her a hand, telling her that she is such a klutz. Later that night, Momiji reveals her feelings of inadequacy to Ms. Matsudaira who more or less tells her that as long as she's willing to give up without a fight, then she'll never win Kusanagi...
    Later that night, the Kappas strike again and this time, Sakura is there to fight them. She is soon joined by Kusanagi, who saves her from being squashed flat by a Kappa. During the course of the battle, Sakura manages to single handedly destroy the construction site and melt the kappas, keeping the one with the mitama from surfacing, which makes Kusanagi very unhappy.
    The next day, Momiji, Ryoko and Matsu are in the car together, talking about the construction site attack, and Matsu asks Momiji if she can sense the mitama that is controlling the kappas. Momiji closes her eyes and tries, detecting the mitama close by. They leave the car and start off through a field of grass, chasing something moving through the tall blades.
    Setting a trap, the Kappa trip Momiji and then a circle of stones rise from the earth imprisoning them as a pack of kappas come shooting from the ground and hurdling towards them. Kusanagi swoops down and rescues Momiji, telling her that she's screwing up, as usual. Depositing her safely with Ryoko and Matsu, he then takes off after them, meeting up with Sakura in the process.
    Ryoko finds a hole (how convenient) between the rocks and the three girls climb out, joining up with Kome and Yaegashi who have arrived with a killer factor that Matsu has designed. Kome shoots it into the giant Kappa creature, who has pinned Sakura and Kusanagi down by spitting on then (eyew), but it doesn't seem to be working.
    Trying to protect Kusanagi, Momiji runs in front of the monster, distracting it and yelling at the other members of TAC to hurry and free Sakura and Kusanagi. Kusanagi starts yelling at Momiji, telling her that he's supposed to protect HER. He worms out of his coat and flits over to her, grabbing her up just as the kappa is about to make her into a grease spot.
    They don't get away however. -_-;; The kappa snags Kusanagi by the leg with some more of its gummy saliva, slinging him to the ground and then trapping him beneath its palm. Kusanagi yells at Momiji to run, which of course we all know by now is not an option for her -_-;;. She throws herself over Kusanagi, determined to be squashed alongside him as the Kappa brings its other hand down towards them.
    But before they are made into human pancakes, the killer factor begins to take effect and they find themselves freed as the kappa struggles over to the persimmon tree, wrapping its arms around it, trying to protect it as it slowly melts away.
    At the very end, the members of the TAC are standing together at the base of the giant tree, saddened that the construction will continue and the tree will fall to human "progress".