Episode 23

Smile is the twenty-third episode of the Fire Force anime.

Summary
Shinra persists, his memories flooding Sho. Shinra says that his promise to their mother is important to him, but after seeing him like this, it is different. When Shinra was still in school, he was bullied and called a devil that killed his family. After he lost his family, he developed a nervous tic of grinning. Shinra shares that before the fire, he and Sho could smile without thinking about it. Sho remembers that the Evangelist approached him as a baby in the fires. Next, he recalls a time when he was a baby and a newspaper had blown over him while he is in his cradle; Shinra came to help get the newspaper off.

Upon remembering this, Sho begins to cry. Shinra hugs Sho to his chest, apologizing for leaving him in the dark for so long. The aftershock of Sho's blade piercing his chest sets in and he collapses, telling Sho this isn't his fault. Haumea appears from the shadows, saying that Shinra can't control his powers so he impaled himself without realizing it. She goes onto say they will kickstart the Great Cataclysm again with the Adolla Bursts. Sho asks her what happened twelve years ago, and Haumea tells him to beat it out of her.

Sho tries stopping time, only to realize his Adolla Link has been severed. She uses electricity to make Sho walk away. Hinawa shoots her, Arthur charging in after to try taking off her head. It's deflected, and he puts himself between Shinra and Haumea. She attempts to use her electricity on Arthur, but his plasma blade interferes with her ability. From behind, Obi tries collapsing a pillar onto Haumea.

An earthquake begins to rumble continuously. Haumea escapes with Sho after exclaiming that this is the work of the Evangelist. The 8th is forced to withdraw, and they take the seriously injured Shinra to Kayoko Huang. Kayoko uses her abilities to try to heal Shinra. While Shinra is being operated on, Hinawa is being patched up, Licht is busy investigating, Vulcan is with Lisa, and Iris has left to pray. The operation is a success, but Kayoko estimates that Shinra won't wake up for a few more days.

Shinra eventually wakes up, hungry and unable to think of anything but his brother. Burns visits Shinra, commending him for looking better than anticipated. Burns offers Shinra rice and says they can discuss the fire from 12 years ago - the one Burns conveniently denied remembering earlier. Burns reveals that he knew about the fire all along, but didn't tell Shinra anything. This begins an altercation between him and Shinra.