Seems like the soft fruit is in (7)
I believe the answer is:
appears
'seems' is the definition.
('appear' can be a synonym of 'seem')
'like the soft fruit is in' is the wordplay.
'like' becomes 'as'.
'the soft' becomes 'p' (musical abbreviation for piano, 'soft').
'fruit' becomes 'pear' (pear is a kind of fruit).
'is in' is an insertion indicator.
'p'+'pear'='ppear'
'as' going around 'ppear' is 'APPEARS'.
(Other definitions for appears that I've seen before include "Comes into sight" , "Seems" , "Becomes visible" , "Materialises" , "Looks like" .)