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, Sho and him could smile without thinking about it. Sho remembers as a baby that the Evangelist approached him in the fires. Next he relives when he was a baby, a newspaper had blown over him while he is in his cradle and 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 kick-start 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 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 using 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 without stop. Haumea escapes with Sho after exclaiming it is the work of the evangelist. The 8th is forced to withdraw, taking Shinra to Kayoko Huang. Kayako uses her abilities to try healing Shinra. While Shinra is under operation, Hinawa is being patched up, Licht is investigating, Vulcan is with Lisa and Iris left to pray. The operation is a success, but Kayoko estimates Shinra won't wake for a few days.

Shinra awakes, 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 prior. Burns reveals he knew everything and neglected telling Shinra anything. This onsets an altercation between him and Shinra.