In Burn the House Down, Satsuki Murata is blamed for the fire at the Mitarai house, which leads to her losing everything overnight. Michiko Kichise plays the role of Satsuki.
13 years ago, Satsuki Murata used to be Satsuki Mitarai. She was married to the Director of the Mitarai Hospital. While her life was not perfect, it was at least comfortable.
One day, a fire burned her house to the ground because the gas stove was left on in the kitchen. Satsuki thought it was her fault because she was the last one to use the gas stove.
However, Satsuki’s older daughter, Anzu, saw Satsuki’s close friend, Makiko, smiling when their house was burning and Satsuki was begging for forgiveness on her knees. Due to this, Anzu started believing that her mother was innocent.
The aftermath
Soon after the incident, Satsuki’s husband, Osamu, divorced her, and Satsuki was left to take care of her two daughters all by herself. Satsuki was not a strong person, so believing that she left the stove on and caused the fire was the only way she could protect herself mentally.
Satsuki had to work hard to support her daughters, but the stress and the guilt were too much for her. As a result, Satsuki suffered from generalized amnesia and lost her memories; erasing her memories was a form of self-preservation.
Currently, Satsuki lives in a hospital, where her daughters visit her frequently, but she does not remember them. It is only when Anzu starts working for Makiko and brings back her mother’s old belongings, which Makiko had stolen, that Satsuki starts regaining her memories.
Satsuki’s innocence
In the past, Osamu’s three sisters bullied Satsuki, but neither Satsuki nor Osamu could speak up against them. Satsuki wanted to protect her husband, so she decided to learn to be more assertive and communicate better. For that, she started attending offline meetups.
One day, Osamu asked her not to go, but she refused to cancel, and Osamu hit her. Makiko then convinced him that Satsuki held a grudge against the Mitarais, so when he checked the security footage after the incident and saw a person leaving the house in Satsuki’s cardigan, he automatically believed that Satsuki started the fire.
Fearing that this would tarnish his reputation, he never gave the footage to the police to investigate. It was rather convenient for him to believe that Satsuki was mentally unstable.
However, 13 years later, Anzu confronts Osamu about this. Ichihara, Osamu’s secretary, then tells them that Satsuki could not have caused the fire because she was with her at that time, which means that Anzu was right all this time.
Road to recovery
While Anzu and Yuzu work together to find the real culprit, Satsuki finds out that her friend Makiko married her husband and is now living the life that was once Satsuki’s. Due to this, Satsuki remembers her past.
She also finds out about her daughters’ suspicions and decides to take action. She hacks Makiko’s social media account and posts pictures that show Makiko’s real life to her followers.
Makiko’s popularity plummets when her followers find out that she had been lying about her life. In the past, Satsuki lost everything because of Makiko, and now, Makiko loses everything because of her.
When Makiko visits Satsuki in the hospital, Satsuki notes how the two of them have traded lives. The only difference is that Satsuki loved Osamu and did not marry him for his money. The two women still cannot understand each other and confess to hating each other.
Finally, Shinji reveals the truth about what happened that day and apologizes to Satsuki. She was always kind to Shinji, and even now, Satsuki does not let this change her opinion of him. She refuses to hold a grudge, so she forgives him.
Satsuki recovers and thanks Anzu for always believing in her. She then returns home to live with her daughters and starts studying again, as she wishes to make an effort to do the things that she could not do all these years.
Also Read: Yuzu Mitarai: Burn the House Down character explained
