Episode 4

Sticky

Season

1

Episode

4

Air date

July 24, 2024

Writer

Kimi Howl Lee

Episode guide
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Mmmm, Hinoki	Joey Sakamoto

Sticky is the fourth episode of the Sunny Apple+ series.

Synopsis[]

The Yakuza make themselves known. Suzie searches for the truth about Masa’s lineage.

Summary[]

Masa rides a twin-seat motorcycle with his son Zen in the passenger seat to school. After dropping Zen off, Masa spots a man talking to some children and calmly whistles. Once the man spots him, Masa pursues him and, when in his grasp, pulls him into a room where Masa shoots him dead after a brief interrogation.

Afterward, Zen meets with Hime in the martini bar, where he reports that the money has been retrieved and that he also has a gold watch for her. In the present, an anxious Suzie attends Masa's funeral and spots Hime in attendance as Noriko tells her to pay attention as they talk to someone. Still, Suzie asks who the lady is, noting she's a Yakuza, which irks Noriko, and she denies that's her profession and claims she's a pharmacist. When Suzie tries to approach Hime with Noriko in tow, they're stopped by a man named Kato, who is said to have been Masa's friend from uni. Kato chatters on and on, much to Suzie's disinterest. However, as soon as Masa's father is mentioned, Suzie tries to learn about Masa's father, only to be pulled away by Noriko and dragged into the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Noriko rebukes Suzie for her tardiness, reeking of alcohol, and not wearing her mother's pearls, which Suzie claimed didn't go with her outfit. Suzie changes the subject to Masa's father, Shigeru, who died, which is the sole reason that Masa went into reclusion. On the other hand, Noriko brushes off the mentioning of Shigeru as rude, but Suzie argues that Noriko should stop stonewalling her and confess what she's hiding about Masa. To that point, Noriko mentions that Masa's cousin Yumeko had long searched for a husband, but when she found one, she couldn't trust that she sincerely loved him. Hence, Yumeko daily tailed her husband as he went to work until she slipped and broke four ribs. At the hospital, it was revealed that she had a tumor in her heart and had to get chemo done. During this time, her husband fell in love with her nurse and later divorced Yumeko. Noriko admits that Suzie reminded her of Yumeko, citing they're both "sticky" and always pursue misery.

At that moment, Sunny appears and claims that it was going to handwash some glasses but follows Suzie, who wants to leave, and runs into Mixxy, who jokingly claimed he was there for free food. Sunny appears, and Suzie admits that she's an asshole for trying to leave, and when she asks Sunny to fetch a bottle of alcohol by the alter, it can't because it's addressed to Noriko, and its programming doesn't allow it to take it. Mixxy, who jokingly claimed she was a human, takes it instead, and as Suzie, Mixxy, and Sunny leave, the sweet potato vendor spots them and closes his shop.

The trio walk and talk about Masa's background as a plausible yakuza and Noriko's possible connection to them. Suzie then asks Sunny to do a search on Shigeru, but all its search turns up is a character from a book, so Suzie suggests doing a search related to him on a Koseki. In a convenience store, Sunny relays its findings about the Koseki, and all it can discover are the names Suzie, Masa, and Zen, and Mixxy is impressed by Zen's name. Despite the limited information found on the Koseki, a more elaborate document called the Kaiseigen Koseki; however, that can't be retrieved unless you get Noriko's blessing or her device.

Mixxy tries to cheer Suzy up, suggesting she go home and take a bath, which gives Suzie an epiphany. She leads the two to a bathhouse where Masa and she used to hang around and spy on Yakuza for fun, but they aren't allowed entry because the women's side is closed. In light of this, Suzie has Sunny lie for her to grant them entry into the place. As Suzie and Mixxy investigate the place and find nothing noteworthy, they hear voices coming toward them, forcing them to hide in the steam room. Inside there, they overhear some Yakuza talking, and one of them mentions Hime.

Outside, Sunny goes off as the sweet potato salesman undercover reports to Hime that Sunny is on the move and is willing to grab it, but Hime rejects that idea and orders him to follow it. Hime, who was in a room with her father and an attendant, tried to coax her father into talking about his successor, but his focus was on taking off his robe and getting into bed. Laying in his bed, Hime's father told her that Hime's cousin Jin had been his second in command for twenty years and that unless she got the manual, it would likely stay that way.

Switching back to Sunny, it roams the streets and visits Tendo's shop as the sweet potato salesman watches the interaction.

Meanwhile, Suzie and Mixxy continue to eavesdrop on the conversation between the four Yakuza. One of the Yakuza, Jin, was curious to know why his cousin Reiji was "fired up" about something. The Yakuza mentioned it was because someone caused a scene at the Junk League and then shifted the conversation back to Hime, who was visiting her father. Jin, who was more focused on the situation concerning the Junk League, notes that he'll have to center his focus on the incident.

Elsewhere, Sunny visits Noriko's house and offers to help her clean up her house because that's what Suzie asked her to do. Although suspicious of Sunny's motive, Noriko allows Sunny to help and spot the bottles of alcohol, offering to pour some in memory of Masa and for her enjoyment. Appreciating the sentiment, Noriko agrees to have some.

Back to Suzie's side, Tetsu arrives at the bathhouse, demanding to know from the work attendee there if a gaijin lady was there, but as he checks the female side of the bathhouse. Tetsu overhears the Yakuza on the male side talking disparagingly about Hime. Hence, Testu walks in on the Yakuza. He calls the bluff that they had prior commitments, and Jin takes the fall, claiming he wanted to talk to them about a pachinko parlor operation. Smirking at the lie, Tetsu notes how trustworthy and loyal Botan is and would sleep on it. Allowing Jin and two other Yakuza to leave, Tetsu stops Botan and asks him to stay and enjoy his bath, as he uses a stack of bath buckets as a way to sit.

At Noriko's house, Sunny plays Shogi with Noriko, who belittles Suzie for fawning over Masa. As their conversation continues, Noriko takes a drink and continues to belittle Suzie, but soon falls asleep.

Returning to the bathhouse, Botan tries to reason with Tetsu about why he was there talking with Jin, which Tetsu snidely plays along with. He then asked if Counselor Ito was mentioned and asked about something called four-circle-five. Botan confirms Ito but not about the latter subject. From there, Tetsu tries to help Botan out of the bath, but then proceeds to beat him with a bar of soap wrapped around a towel. Tetsu then dunks and nearly drowns Botan, as Suzie overhears this as a flashback of Masa doing the same thing, claiming nobody messes with Hime. In the end, Tetsu kills Botan by slamming him multiple times into the steam room door. All the while, Suzie and Mixxy were in there, scared for their lives at what had gone on. Finished with his business, Tetsu contacts someone, noting how fortuitous it was to be there, and leaves.

On Sunny's side, it makes sure that Noriko is asleep; it installs a program that it had in its storage compartment and then steals Noriko's device from her purse. Eventually, Noriko awakens and calls out to Sunny, but finds sandwiches made for her by Sunny. Elsewhere, Mixxy and Suzie exit the bathhouse and run into Sunny, who informs them that Masa's father isn't Shigeru, but a man named Hiromasa Matsumoto, who is definitely alive.

They all later visit an insurance agency, where they confront the agent there about how a Hiromasa Matsumoto was made a beneficiary by Masa three days before he died. Still, the agent assures that the money won't be cashed in as it was reported to the fraud department while the investigation will continue. Hearing the word investigation alerts Suzie, who then asks about it, but the agent claims that she can't speak about the four-circle-five. Another flag is raised when four-circle-five is mentioned, which Sunny mentions is the flight number that Masa died in, but Suzie mentions that's the same thing mentioned at the bathhouse.

When they return to Suzie's home, they find it has been ransacked, and to Suzie's dismay, they ruin Zen's room, where she has a nervous breakdown and suggests they leave. Meanwhile, Hime and her cohorts search through Suzie's belongings.