In Burn the House Down, Anzu takes it upon herself to find out the truth about an incident that ruined her mother’s life. Mei Nagano plays the role of Anzu Mitarai.
When Anzu was young, a fire broke out at her house and destroyed everything. Everyone, including Anzu’s mother, believed that the fire was Anzu’s mother’s fault. Due to this, Anzu’s mother suffered from generalized amnesia and lost her memories.
Anzu was the only one who did not believe that her mother was responsible for the fire, as she saw her mother’s close friend, Makiko, smiling when the house was on fire. Anzu is determined to prove her mother’s innocence, and to do that, she must find out what happened that night.
Winning the trust of your enemy
13 years after the incident, Anzu believes that Makiko deliberately caused the fire, which led to Anzu’s parents’ separation. Soon after the separation, Makiko married Anzu’s father, who has not contacted his daughters in years.
Anzu adopts the identity of Shizuka Yamauchi and comes to work at the Mitarai residence in the hope of finding evidence against Makiko. Before she could do that, she is fired by Makiko, who finds out that Anzu disobeyed her and went upstairs.
However, Makiko runs into Anzu a few days later, and Anzu helps her out. She then convinces Makiko to give her a second chance. This time, Anzu makes use of her cooking skills to impress Makiko.
Anzu proves herself useful to Makiko and goes on to become an important part of her professional life, as the dishes that Anzu cooks get Makiko a lot of attention on social media. Makiko then promotes Anzo to the post of manager.
Whenever there is a problem, Anzu, as Makiko’s manager, is sent to take care of it, and Anzu never disappoints. This is how she gets Makiko to give her the address of Mujina, a woman who might have evidence against Makiko.
Anzu manages to prove to everyone that Makiko envied her mother and stole from her. Eventually, the whole truth comes to light, and Anzu gets the real culprit, Shinji, to apologize to her mother.
Anzu’s efforts not only help her mother regain her memories but also free her from the burden of guilt that she has been carrying for 13 years. Anzu’s mother is able to go back to living her old life.
A love story that has a happy ending
While working as a housekeeper at the Mitarai residence, Anzu is asked not to go upstairs, as one of Makiko’s sons lives there. Anzu soon finds out that the son who stays locked in his room is Kiichi, Makiko’s older son.
When Kiichi and Anzu were young, they used to be friends because their mothers met often. Kiichi liked looking at the stars, and he often pointed out various kinds of stars to Anzu. He even gave her his compass, and Anzu still has it.
Anzu thinks that she can control Kiichi by feeding him and being nice to him. She gets Kiichi to do whatever she says, which gives her the opportunity to look for evidence. However, she soon realizes that she never fooled Kiichi; it was the other way around.
Kiichi knows that she is Anzu, not Shizuka Yamauchi. He catches her going through his mother’s closet and blackmails her. An argument between the two of them leads to Anzu accusing Makiko of starting the fire, and Kiichi is not surprised.
Kiichi also suspected his mother back then and is still struggling with the guilt of what happened 13 years ago. This is when Kiichi starts helping Anzu search for the truth. With his help, she avoids getting caught by Shinji and Makiko.
Meanwhile, with Anzu’s help, Kiichi takes a step toward getting his life together. He even goes out of the house for her. Anzu admits to him that she liked him when they were young and that she still thinks that he is wonderful.
When Kiichi decides to run away from home, Anzu takes him to her house to live with her, and Kiichi tells her that he does not want her to hate him. Even when Kiichi takes the blame for starting the fire, Anzu does not believe it to be true and meets Makiko to investigate further.
It turns out that Anzu was right; Kiichi did not commit arson. Once the police let Kiichi go, Anzu confesses her love for him in front of his mother and asks him to live with her, despite knowing that he is hated by a lot of people right now.
Kiichi has also fallen in love with her, so he decides to live with her, and the two of them start afresh. Anzu starts working with Claire and gets her happily ever after with Kiichi.