WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 4 of The God of High School, "marriage/bond," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
The God of High School's fourth episode is the anime's least action-heavy installment so far. And yet, because of this, it's also the series' most dramatic. When Mira is suddenly whisked away to get married to a celebrity of the martial arts world, Mori and Daewi refuse to let her abandon her tournament dreams. But just as their big "I object!" moment looks as though it's going to leave things on an emotional high note, reality comes crashing down around Daewi and the episode ends, instead, with a shocking curveball.
The power of friendship is a driving force in a lot of shonen, particularly any that star children or teenagers. Though they only met in The God of High School's first episode, Mori, Mira and Daewi have formed a loose friendship circle quickly: walking the same route home from the arena each night and cheering each other on from the sidelines during matches. But they're also mindful that the one thing keeping them together as a group is the tournament itself. In Episode 4, Mori is keen to see Mira and Daewi face-off against each other in the next preliminary round so he can take on the winner. So, when Mira accepts an out-of-the-blue proposal that will take her away from it, the taekwondo practitioner does his best to change her mind.
The man Mira is marrying, Seongjin, has been courting her for some time. His status as the handsome face of South Korea's martial arts scene makes him seem like the perfect match for a swordswoman of Mira's talent and ambition. The fact that Mira is still in high school, however, and he's the adult chairman of a big company makes the whole thing incredibly suspect and, well, gross. Thankfully, the episode lampshades this: Mori persuades Daewi to help him intervene because he's worried Seongjin is a predator (which he is) while Mira's uncle directly questions why Seongjin would want to wed a child. His response? He sees her "one-of-a-kind potential for purity." Ew.
Why on earth is Mira going through with it, then? It's certainly not for love. Mira, who has taken it upon herself to preserve her late father's rare Moon Sword style, agrees to the union because she believes Seongjin's claim that he can give the style a global platform. Seongjin, on the other hand, is actually just after the sword she inherited -- a weapon that she's dedicated her entire life to mastering at the expense of all else. "Only a strong man can inherit the Moon Light sword."
She also doesn't know that Seongjin is not only a creep for going after a teen bride, he's also in league with the strange Illuminati-esque cult we keep catching glimpses of. "You must obtain the holy sword that can rule God himself," he was instructed, "as well as the hand that can draw out that power." He soon reveals his true, demonic colors when Mori and Daewi crash the ceremony, as Mori makes Mira remember all she's sacrificed in service of upholding her family legacy, as well as her father's words of wisdom: "Using your own techniques will make your life play out as you wish. That is the secret of my sword style."
Defeating Seongjin's charyeok power with her bare hands -- and with a severe injury -- Mira finally realizes that her father's spirit dwells within her and not in his sword. She even shrugs off the villain swiping it before making his getaway.
Unfortunately, the #SquadGoals moment the episode could have ended on is snatched away when Daewi's sick friend takes a turn for the worst. His ailing health is what's motivated Daewi to try and win the tournament's wish prize. With this in mind, the kind-hearted persona built up in previous episodes is shattered by the sight of him brutally knocking Mira out of the tournament during their scheduled match. As he passes a stunned Mori afterward, he simply tells him that he'll see him in the finals. The time for friendship, it seems, has come to an abrupt end.