Well, the backstory bits sure were tragic.
We finally learn more about Misaki's lab professor, Tsujimura, although not in the way I had expected. He'd grown up as the second son in a prominent family; his older brother was expected to take over the family medical business, so Tsujimura was free to do what he wished, with little in the way of family expectations weighing on him.
When he was ten years old, he met a boy who'd been peering into his garden, wanting to look at the flowers. For the next five years, they were inseparable best friends - until Tsujimura told Akira he was in love with him.
It seems they didn't really speak again until they started university, with Tsujimura attending the same school and the same department as Akira, despite having no real interest in agriculture. After a few more misunderstandings and missed opportunities, Akira finally confesses that he'd loved Tsujimura all along, but he couldn't let himself explore that or enter into a relationship because since he was a child, he'd been promised in marriage to the daughter of a family who'd done everything for his family.
It's a older era story, with all the limitations and expectations that a lot of people simply couldn't throw away in order to live their own lives. So Akira and Tsujimura have a few short days together, then part ways again with those memories.
And it turns out that Akira was Misaki's grandfather...which honestly leaves me with a lot more questions, like: since they were at the same university, did they ever speak, or did they maintain their distance for all those decades? What happened in Tsujimura's personal life? Did he find happiness of his own, or is he still pining for his old lost love?
I don't know...it's a bittersweet story that has its own sort of beauty (although it's not an ending I'm particularly fond of), but I'm not sure how well it fit into this series.
There is sort of a past/present divide in this volume, though, with the second half returning to the younger Misaki and Arikawa, showing that with the passage of time, you can find happiness - and retain your family's love and connections - even if you follow a nontraditional path.
Still did not explain the magical dreams at all! ButI liked Arikawa's family accepting and embracing Misaki, and Misaki being able to gain a new family after having lost all of his.
Mixed feelings about this volume and this series, but I do see the overall idea behind it now, and the deeper stories that were embedded in an otherwise fairly predictable plotline.