Yuzu Mitarai is Anzu’s younger sister, who helps Anzu find the person responsible for setting fire to the Mitarai house. In Burn the House Down, Yuzu is played by Yuri Tsunematsu.
13 years ago, when Yuzu and Anzu’s house burned down and their parents separated, Yuzu was too young to understand the situation. However, Anzu was old enough to figure out that the fire was not their mother’s fault.
Anzu shared her doubts with Yuzu once she grew up. The sisters witnessed their mother lose her memories because of the guilt of causing the fire. The two of them were left yearning for their mother’s love and support.
Like Anzu, Yuzu wants nothing more than to see their mother recover, so when Anzu decides to find the real culprit, Yuzu supports her sister in any way that she can.
Sharing the burden
After their parents’ divorce, Anzu had to grow up too soon and take responsibility for not just herself but Yuzu as well. Now, as an adult, Yuzu is eager to help Anzu and make herself useful, but Anzu is so used to protecting her sister that she does not want her to get involved.
One day, Yuzu runs into Shinji, who recognizes her immediately. Yuzu only stays there to speak to him because Shinji gets drunk and starts spilling his family’s secrets. She then continues meeting Shinji to gather information that might be useful to Anzu.
When Anzu realizes that despite being young, Yuzu has been taking care of her all these years in her own way, she decides to share her problems with her sister. She admits that she is scared and that she needs Yuzu’s help.
She also tells Yuzu about the SD card that she hid in Yuzu’s medical records. Yuzu then asks Shinji to set up a meeting with her father at his office to retrieve the SD card from the hospital. Yuzu succeeds, and the sisters get their hands on the security footage from the day of the fire.
Yuzu’s slip-up
After that day, Yuzu meets her father frequently in the hope of finding out information about their mother’s past. Yuzu wants to tell him about Anzu’s suspicions, but Anzu does not trust him enough to tell him anything.
Their father not only married Makiko after divorcing their mother but has also not bothered to see his daughters in 13 years. Yuzu is more trusting than Anzu, so she ends up telling her father that Makiko could have been the arsonist.
Yuzu soon finds out that Anzu was right, as her father tells Makiko everything, which leads to Makiko destroying the only evidence that the sisters had against her. A guilty Yuzu apologizes to Anzu, but Anzu does not hold it against her.
Makiko knows Yuzu well enough to know that Anzu has to be behind all this. However, Yuzu at least manages to lie to her that Anzu has moved to another place. Makiko does not consider Yuzu a threat and is relieved to know that Anzu is away.
While Anzu continues to win Makiko’s trust as Shizuka Yamauchi, Yuzu tries to make amends for the loss of evidence by meeting women from Makiko’s past. Yuzu easily wins people over with her cheery attitude and is able to investigate on her own.
Eventually, when Mujina’s account claims to expose Makiko’s lies on social media, Makiko believes it to be Yuzu’s doing. She drags her to the Mitarai house to make her look like a liar, only to have her own misdeeds exposed by Anzu.
With time, the truth comes to light. Yuzu, who had been taking care of her mother all this time, finally gets her mother back. She also gets a job at a staffing agency, where she can put her communication skills to good use.
Yuzu was forced to push Shinji away, even though she liked him. She had asked him to use the Mitarai family’s money and connections to become successful. After confessing that he was responsible for the fire, Shinji does what she had asked him to do, and Yuzu continues supporting him.
Also Read: Shinji Mitarai: Burn the House Down character explained