01x01 - The Cherry Blossom Ring

[bunniefuu]

[thunder rumbling]

[narrator] This was the moment

that I learned two things.

That you don't realize

what's important to you until it's gone.

And that

it's only too easy to lose.

[girl crying]

And that made me scared.

Even if I bonded

with something precious to me

wouldn't I just lose it again?

Just thinking that

[gasps]

[groans]

[gasps softly]

[girl] Don't worry.

I'm not going anywhere.

[exhales]

[cries]

MISSION: YOZAKURA FAMILY

[bell ringing]

PLAN 1

THE CHERRY BLOSSOM RING

[boy 1] All right! Lunchtime!

Let's go to the cafeteria!

-[boy 2] Asano!

-[gasps softly]

Listen, we've got

a practice soccer match coming up.

Help us out!

Hey, how about a study group at my house?

Let's go to karaoke after school!

[all together] Asano!

S-Sorry. Can't do it.

Oh, crap, he turned us down again!

What's this, our tenth straight fail?

You play harder to get

than any girl, Asano.

Asano! We've been in the same class

for a month now.

Let's hang out!

It makes us sad, you know!

Hey, better back off now.

-Huh? Why is that?

-Look at him.

He's so nervous, he's blacked out.

Answering us that first time

must have wiped him out.

[boy 2 sighs] I thought that he would

have come around a little after a month.

[boy 3] You have to feel sorry

for anyone who's that shy, huh?

-[boy 1] Yup.

-[sighs]

[Taiyo] The thing is,

it's not like I'm shy or anything.

I'm happy that they asked me to hang out,

and it would be great

to talk about stuff with them.

But

Forget it.

Let's try again tomorrow, okay?

[falters]

[girl] You turned them down again?

[sighs]

Mutsumi.

But they were nice enough to ask you!

Who cares? Just leave me alone!

-I made us lunch, so let's eat!

-No, I'm

I know you haven't been eating right

because you're always working!

I've got some of that salty tamagoyaki

that you like, Taiyo.

And, hey, if you leave your carrots

again, you'll live to regret it!

[whimpers]

[Taiyo] Yes, ma'am.

That's my boy!

Wow, can you believe Yozakura?

Still, why would the idol of this school,

Yozakura, do that?

I hear that those two

are childhood friends.

I-I'm so jealous.

[sighs]

Look at you, always alone.

It worries me, thinking that you could

spend the rest of your life like this!

Who are you, my mom?

Who are you to talk? Didn't you

turn down that third-year, Tanaka?

[Mutsumi] Huh? Oh, yeah.

He's smart, he's good-looking, and he's

the captain of the soccer team, right?

I mean, what's not to like?

[chuckles softly] Oh?

And who are you, Taiyo, my father?

[Taiyo] Hey, wipe that smug look

off your face!

Never mind about me, okay?

What you need to do is to finally

move on, or your parents will be sad.

So that's why you need

to rehab your communication skills.

Here! Say "ahh."

How is this rehab?

Never mind! Just eat!

[sighs] Ahh

Ahh! [gulps]

So tasty!

M-Mr. Hirukawa?

Come on! You promised

to stop snacking, remember?

[Hirukawa] Hey, my bad.

My body reacted

to the scent of your tamagoyaki.

Hmm? What's wrong, Asano?

Uh Nothing.

Where did he come from? Out of nowhere?

Mr. Hirukawa, aren't you supposed to be

on a business trip overseas for a lecture?

[Hirukawa] Well, I missed

your lunches so much, Mutsumi,

that I changed my schedule

to come home earlier.

Oh.

Still, I have to say that white streak

is as gorgeous as ever!

I wanna rub my cheek against it!

Do that, and I'll report you!

If you're done here, please go back

to the vice principal's office.

[Hirukawa] Huh? Oh, but I'm not.

I'm so not done here yet!

Hey, Asano,

come to my office when school's out.

Huh? Y-You mean me?

That's right.

[Taiyo] Uh Did I do something?

Right, see you later!

[Taiyo] Hey, wait

What's the deal with that guy?

[bell ringing]

[boy 1] See ya, Asano!

Uh S-See you.

-Hey, let's hit the karaoke booth!

-Hey, sounds good!

[boy 2] What should we sing?

[boy 1] A medley of this season's

opening themes, what else?

[Taiyo] Ever since that day, I've been

afraid to connect with other people.

VICE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE

HIRUKAWA'S ROOM

[knocking on door]

E-Excuse me!

Hey, you're here?

I've been waiting for you!

[comical music playing]

T-Too close.

Um, what exactly am I here for?

Oh, well I really wanted

to show you my collection, see.

Collection?

Ta-da!

My "secret shots of Mutsumi" collection!

[Taiyo] Huh? What a pervert!

I want your evaluation

as her childhood friend.

[Taiyo] I mean, I knew Mutsumi

was a favorite of Mr. Hirukawa's, but

See, look! This is my personal favorite!

[Taiyo] He's a lost cause.

This is pathetic.

I guess I'd better report him.

Y-Yes, it's nice.

Hey, how about this one?

Mutsumi playing Sevens at home!

Isn't she cute?

[Taiyo] What?

Hey, here she is at five.

I took this at the park.

Brings back memories.

[Taiyo] Ugh!

Aww This is the one I took

when she was three,

at her Shichigosan celebration.

What an angel!

[Taiyo] Huh? Why would a teacher

like him have pictures like these?

[tense music playing]

You see

I've been watching over Mutsumi

from the shadows all this time.

Since Mutsumi is so gorgeous,

to shield her from all the undesirables,

I've been keeping

an eye on her constantly,

nonstop, without a break.

That third-year kid, Tanaka,

was pretty pesky yesterday,

but when I graciously asked him

to stay away from Mutsumi,

he gladly agreed to comply in the end.

[Hirukawa] Go on.

Once more, in a great big voice.

I-I'll never go near Yozakura again!

[Taiyo] This dude He's totally insane!

I've got to do something,

or Mutsumi will

[Hirukawa] I envy you, Asano.

Getting those homemade lunches

from Mutsumi

[gasps]

I've been looking the other way

since you're Mutsumi's childhood friend,

but things have changed,

and that just won't be possible now.

[Taiyo] Damn it!

I can't make a sound.

My legs are frozen, too.

Mutsumi's in danger, but I

Don't take it personally.

This is all for the sake

of my beloved kid sister.

[Taiyo] Huh?

[girl] Stop it right there.

[both] Huh?

VICE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE

HIRUKAWA'S ROOM

[whooshing]

[Taiyo groans]

Hey, you're awake!

[Mutsumi] Morning, Taiyo!

Mutsumi?

Glad to see you're all right.

[gasps, screams]

Wh-Who are you?

Taiyo, it's all right! Look, it's me!

Nanao, there's no way

you're hiding all that behind Mutsumi.

M-Mutsumi! Who are these people?

[Mutsumi] Well, it's kind of a long story.

But for now, let me introduce them to you.

These are my siblings.

S-Siblings?

[Mutsumi] This is my big sister, Futaba.

Nice to meet you.

[Mutsumi] And this my big brother, Shinzo.

N-Nice to meet you.

[Mutsumi] This is Big Sis Shion.

Yo.

-[Mutsumi] And Kengo.

-Hey there.

[Mutsumi] And Nanao!

H-Hello!

And this is our guard dog, Goliath!

As you can see, we're a family of spies!

It was really tough, keeping my mouth shut

about that for ten-plus years.

What a relief!

Hold up! Hold up! Hold up!

Spies? What are you talking about?

I can't process that like you'd said,

"We're a family of greengrocers!"

[Mutsumi] It's just that

instead of eggplants and radishes,

we deal in g*ns and intel.

Isn't it kinda the same?

Not at all! It's totally different!

I know! I'm getting pranked.

You're pranking me, right, Mutsumi?

Like, this g*n is just a toy, right?

Hey, watch out!

[g*n firing]

[Taiyo gasps]

[Kengo] Well, hey.

Unlike in books and movies,

being a spy is just

a common, ordinary job.

Lately, there's been a surge

in cheap public-servant spies,

so as freelancers,

we can't compete, can we?

Oh, we'll be fine.

I mean, we do lead the rankings

on the review sites, with 4.8 stars.

[Taiyo] Reviews for spies?

Isn't that a huge info leak?

True that. And we've got Big Bro Kyoichiro

to boost our popularity.

The undisputed number one "Male Spy That

Female Spies Want to Be Targeted By"!

[Shion] Well, he's also number one

in hate-thread size by a mile.

What? Mr. Hirukawa?

[Futaba] You know him, right?

The eldest son

of the Yozakura family, Kyoichiro.

As a person, he's flawed,

but in every other aspect,

combat power, intelligence,

he's the best spy in our family.

B-But why would your brother target me?

Because we got a tip

that someone was plotting to k*ll Mutsumi.

[Taiyo] Hold on a second! I would never

Well, we did get the intel

from that moronic social media post.

Huh? Social media?

Spies on social media?

Not only that, they've got

a ton of followers too!

Years ago, during a certain incident

Mutsumi suffered a near-fatal injury

because of Kyoichiro.

That white hair is a remnant

of the stress from that accident.

Ever since then, his sense of guilt

has made him obsess over Mutsumi

to an abnormal degree.

He's changed his name and job

so he can surveil her,

and he'll interfere with everything,

from her daily life

to her personal connections.

He's turned into

a Mutsumi-protecting monster.

Despite his hatred for you,

he's always given you a pass

as Mutsumi's childhood friend.

But now he has a reason

to justify getting rid of you.

I really am sorry

that my brother is such an idiot.

Oh no uh

[alarm blaring]

Whoops. Speak of the devil.

[Taiyo] Wh-What's going on?

[Futaba] Kyoichiro has

just returned to this house.

He probably means to finish you off.

[gasps]

[Kengo] Now, now, calm down.

After all,

you're safest with us, you know.

Shion, Shinzo

[Shion] Every door leading

to this room has been locked.

[Shinzo] And I've set every trap

we have on hand.

There's no getting through to that guy,

so what can we do?

All right, you guys, we're going to

give that moron a beatdown!

[Taiyo] B-Beatdown?

[Nanao] Well, not that

the odds are on our side.

Even at five to one, our win rate

for past head-on clashes was a mere 30%.

There's also a 42% chance of one of us

needing six months of recovery

and a 25% chance

of the house burning down.

[Kengo] Well, then, we should just

look at it as an early renovation!

[exhales]

B-But it would be

because of me. That's too

[Futaba] It's always been a family issue.

Don't give it a second thought.

There's just one way

for you to survive this.

What?

Hey Big Sis!

You two need to get married.

M-Married?

Look at that steam.

Well, who can blame him?

HEALTH FIRS

[Futaba] If you marry into our family,

in accordance with our one rule

PEACE IN THE HOUSEHOLD

"No k*lling among family members,"

your life, at least, can be preserved.

You only have to exchange rings

to marry a Yozakura.

This Cherry Blossom Ring is double-banded.

The moment you give half to your spouse,

your marriage becomes official.

Even that idiot isn't stupid enough

to break such an ironclad rule.

And I think it'll be a good chance for him

to finally get over his sister fetish.

Well, that's just what I personally hope.

To protect you and to protect Mutsumi.

Not a bad idea, wouldn't you agree?

[Taiyo] Me and Mutsumi, get married?

Marriage

family.

[gasps]

-[Mutsumi] No.

-[Taiyo gasps]

I'm not marrying Taiyo.

Mutsumi

[Mutsumi] I'm sorry, Big Sis Futaba.

I know you're looking out for us.

But you know, right?

That Taiyo's lost his family.

Even now, he can't talk to people

or even sleep.

He's still coming to terms

with the loss of his family.

No one knows better than Taiyo

what that pain is like,

so casually telling him,

"Join our family"

that would be too cruel.

[Taiyo] Mutsumi

Gotcha.

Sorry to be so insensitive.

No, no, it's all right.

What's going on?

Why am I feeling so conflicted?

Okay! Now that that's settled,

let's do our best

to clobber that stupid eldest son!

[all] Yeah!

[Nanao] What about strategy?

[Kengo] Huh? Can't we just wing it?

Sorry to drag you

into our family problems, Taiyo.

[Shinzo] I-I'm getting nervous.

Hey, it's gonna be okay, Big Bro Shinzo.

Leaving me out, so cruel of you.

Let me join in on the fun!

So? Who are we clobbering?

[Taiyo] Wh-When did he get here?

Oh, hey, Shinzo.

You renovated the traps

around the mansion, right?

Well, evading them was a pain,

so I destroyed them all.

My bad.

S-Seriously?

I'm only going to warn you once.

Back off from these two, Kyoichiro.

[Kyoichiro] No can do.

There's no guarantee that he's harmless,

and for Mutsumi's sake, "guilty until

proven innocent" is how I roll!

If you have a problem with that,

as Yozakura, you can use force to

[Futaba] That's what

we're going to do, all right.

All right. Time for a sibling fight!

Sorry, Big Bro!

[Taiyo] Whoa.

[Kyoichiro] Sorry, Nanao.

Big Bro is busy, so let's play later.

Shinzo! Nanao! Get out of the way!

[Shinzo grunts]

That was pretty good teamwork, you know.

But you left yourselves

way too open after that one strike.

Now, enough with the training.

Just hand over that guy.

Otherwise I'm going to

rip this house to shreds.

Wh-What's that?

His special weapon, Steel Spider.

Mutsumi, we're going to buy you some time,

so you take that kid and run!

[grunts]

What?

Let me go, damn it,

you jerk-a*s eldest son!

Don't rage like that, Futaba,

or your body will get julienned!

Damn it!

Hey, Kengo, what are you waiting for?

Okay.

Both of you, this way.

This game is impossible

at your skill level, Shion.

[Shion] Shut up, perv.

I don't care if it's

an impossible game or a crap one!

For a real gamer,

fun means pulling out all the stops!

That's so cool!

[panting]

A-Are they okay? The others?

Yes. Remember what Big Sis Futaba said?

We're not allowed to k*ll

any family members, so it's all good.

B-But

Don't worry about it. Come on.

You need to hide now, Taiyo.

[Kengo hums]

Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere.

[gasps]

[sighs] How pesky were those drones?

All right, come over here, Mutsumi.

I wouldn't want to soil you

with his blood splatter.

-[Goliath growls]

-[Mutsumi groans]

[gasps]

There you go. That's a good girl.

Now, then,

dive into your big brother's arms!

[chuckles softly]

[snarls]

-[grunts]

-[chuckles]

Awesome disguise there, Kengo.

Right down to the same number

of eyelashes. I'm impressed!

Whoops. You got me.

But you still haven't mastered

the art of disguising others.

Come on, Mutsumi.

Be a good girl,

and tell me where you hid him.

[Taiyo] Damn it. What should I do?

[Mutsumi] Listen up, Taiyo.

Whatever happens,

don't ever come out of there, all right?

[exhales sharply]

[Mutsumi] Big Bro!

Stop this nonsense already!

I'm telling you,

Taiyo's not trying to k*ll me!

You know all about it, too, don't you?

About Taiyo's family?

So please don't hurt Taiyo anymore.

[sighs]

All right, fine, Mutsumi.

I won't lay a hand on him anymore.

Big Bro

[Kyoichiro] And I'm also not going

to let you out of the house anymore.

What?

[Kyoichiro] Out there,

you'll attract the unsavory,

and I'll have failed you

as your big brother.

From now on, I'm going to do much,

much more to keep you safe, all right?

[Mutsumi] Big Bro.

[Kyoichiro] It's dangerous,

so you don't need to go outside.

The Internet is dangerous too,

so no smartphone for you.

I'm going to rid the world of everything

that could put you in danger.

School, your friends, fun, romance,

I'll get rid of them all.

I'll eliminate all that's unnecessary

so you can have

a safe, peaceful household.

Ah, just imagining it

makes my heart flutter!

The day that I nearly lost you,

I vowed to accept any kind of pain

[stabbing]

if only I could keep this child safe.

I would give up my own life

in order to protect you, my beloved.

Now then, Mutsumi

forget about that guy,

and let's live in peace.

Okay.

Sorry Taiyo.

[gasps] Taiyo.

Let Mutsumi go.

I have no use for you anymore.

Kindly refrain from sticking your nose

in my family's business.

[Taiyo] This guy is probably just like me.

He's afraid to lose

what's precious to him.

But making the precious person

he wants to protect look like that

I just know that's wrong!

Mutsumi

Let's do it.

That method that your sister said

would keep both of us safe.

[gasps] But

I'll be fine.

Because you promised me

that you weren't going anywhere.

[gasps]

Okay.

[gentle music playing]

[Taiyo grunts]

Well, that was close.

Damn that Futaba,

putting ideas in your heads.

But there's no chance in hell

that I'd ever let you do that.

[Taiyo grunts]

Hey, Mutsumi

thanks for always protecting

the hopeless wreck that I am.

That's why

from now on

I'm going to be the one to protect you!

[gasps]

Are you both okay?

[Taiyo] I promise you,

I'm going to protect Mutsumi.

Nice to meet you

Big Bro Kyoichiro!

I-Impossible!

[exclaims]

Taiyo!

[crying]

All right!

Hey, pretty good!

Yeah, he sure is awesome.

You're so cool, Taiyo!

[chuckles] Too bad for you, Kyoichiro.

But there's no time to be melancholy.

[laughing]

-You did it! Good for you! Congrats!

-Wow! Amazing!

[Futaba] You've got to teach that kid.

Protecting Mutsumi

what that really means.

[ending theme song playing]