Chapter 15

Chapter 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the Astra Lost in Space manga. It is the eighth chapter of the Shummoor arc and, in the compiled volumes, the eighth chapter of the second volume.

Synopsis
Having recognized that Yun-Hua has run away and intends to die on Shummoor, the rest of the group springs into action: while Quitterie waits on the Astra in case Yun-Hua returns, the others will venture out in four groups to find her, with Kanata opting to go by himself as the fourth "group" once he changes into his crust suit. Funicia hands him Yun-Hua's glasses, which she has left behind; Funicia is worried that Yun-Hua cannot see, a notion Aries quickly dispels by revealing to the crew that the glasses are fake.

Aries' and Charce's searching, as well as Funicia's and Zack's, fails to find Yun-Hua. While Luca and Ulgar search, Luca mentions that he feels bad about what he said the day before, and Ulgar dispassionately mentions in return that he called her an ogre, drawing hypocritical indignation from Luca. As Kanata searches by himself, he considers Aries' words to him regarding Yun-Hua's insecurities and perceptions of uselessness, as well as Luca's food-consumption-oriented insult the day prior, coming to the conclusion that Yun-Hua, considering herself useless, has decided that one fewer mouth to feed will raise the chances of survival for the others.

Walking alone on the waste, Yun-Hua hears Kanata's yelling in the distance, only stopping briefly before being surprised by the sudden appearance of a small, four-legged animal and falling down. As she stands again, her heart racing, she becomes aware of how alone she is and begins singing softly to herself to calm down. The song itself is connected to a bitter memory of hers, which she recounts in her mind: After coming home from school one day, she excitedly told her mother that she has been chosen to be the star of her school play. Upon learning this, her mother decides to confront her teacher about the matter and demands that Yun-Hua decline the role. Towering over Yun-Hua, her mother tells her to her face that she is doomed to fail and embarrass both herself and all involved with the play. Weeks later, as the play is performed, Yun-Hua stands at a stage light as the kids on stage sing a song, the same one she now sings to comfort herself.

She is pulled from her reverie by Kanata yelling at her; she has been so deep in her memory that she has not even noticed she has been found. She tries to escape from him on foot, but Kanata, an athlete that he is, quickly catches her; however, when he grabs her hand, she grabs him back and hurls him through the air a short distance, a feat made possible by Shummoor's weaker gravity. Kanata decides to talk to Yun-Hua from a distance rather than continue a pursuit, using their helmets to communicate. He offers to give her glasses back; after she rejects them, she is surprised to learn from Kanata that Aries noticed the glasses were fake. Kanata uses this to try convincing her that her impression of them not caring about her is wrong, further positing that she only uses the glasses to keep her long bangs out of her eyes. She says she is trying to avoid drawing attention to herself, reiterating her insecurities tied to her lack of a useful talent, the size of her body (she is only an inch shorter than Kanata, who is almost six feet tall), and her apparent food consumption (while, in his head, Kanata considers that Aries ears far more than she does). She cites each as a deep-rooted source of emotional pain.

In light of these, Kanata counters that the crew's special talents, which he asserts are a coincidence, are meaningless by themselves; none of them would have survived on their own, had they been dropped alone into their predicament. He encourages her to simply try to help them, believing it to be worse to do nothing than to try to help, but she reverts to her old argument: that she cannot draw attention to herself. Here, she returns to the instruction of her mother, who taught her that attention, regardless of whether it comes by failure or success, is a horror to be avoided at all costs and that it is better to do nothing at all, rather than be noticed in any way. As Kanata listens to this, his confusion turns to shock mingled with horror at the realization that Yun-Hua's mother has actually taught these things to her own daughter.

Meanwhile, Aries and Charce meet up with Funicia and Zack, neither group having found Yun-Hua. AS the wind picks up and the temperature begins dropping, they decide to return to the Astra for food and water before trying again. A pack of gloopies suddenly runs past them, and Aries' attention is drawn to a nearby pole-tree; as she watches, the covering on the bulbous part at the top of the stalk peels back, allowing a fine, dark powder to disperse into the air. The others watch as well; Charce comments on the powder's similarity to spores as the edge of the cloud surrounds them.

Seconds later, Aries falls to her knees, then topples completely to the ground. Charce realizes his mistake as he, too, falls to his knees, turning his head to find that Funicia and Zack are already unconscious. Fighting desperately to stay conscious, he watches as a gloopie enters the cloud and falls over dead a short distance away. He connects the final pieces of the puzzle seconds before blacking out: The plant life that carries on photosynthesis on Shummoor is almost exclusively fungi, and the planet has no carnivores, not because they are elsewhere on the planet, but because they never existed. The pole-tree, a fungus whose spores are highly toxic to anything that breathes them in, is Shummoor's apex predator.