Line 30

Zero Seven is the third chapter of the sixth volume of the Devils' Line manga series and the thirtieth chapter.

Summary
Zero Nine asks Nanako (Zero Seven) if she likes Kikuhara and he would understand it if she did since he's a charismatic person, but she gets frustrated with him and goes to take a walk by herself.

Nanako remembers back to the time she first met Kikuhara at one of the study groups put on by her foster father. She didn't talk to him at the get-together because she was busy studying for her high school exams. When she goes to turn in a mock test to her foster father she runs into Kikuhara who had fallen asleep in the study. He is impressed with how she did on the exam and offers to help her boost her math score. She agrees.

They meet up later at a cafe. He doesn't accept any money for tutoring her since he wants to do it to take his mind off his job. This puts her at ease and gets her to trust him. He challenges her to score a 95 and as a reward he'll tell her what his job is. At his mention of hardship, she thinks back to Morisawa and becomes nauseous. Kikuhara helps her at the sink. He continues to help her with math and they grow closer.

The day her results come back (a 96), she rushes to the cafe and ends up getting there before Kikuhara. As she waits, a transformed devil, blood dripping from his mouth, pushes past the window.

A devil police officer, Yasuyoshi Toudou, captures the devil in an alleyway and the other officers in his squad report it over the radio. Nanako followed the devil to the alley and, to her horror, sees that Kikuhara is one of the officers.

Back in the present, Zero Nine wakes up in a capsule hotel and sees that Nanako still hasn't returned. He worries that something terrible happened to her.

At the warehouse, Tsukasa and Sakaki are setting up a small kitchen. Anzai asks her about how her classes are going since she's had to skip a lot. Ishimaru suggests she tell her school about the case she's involved in since she may still be a target for the CCC. Tsukasa and Anzai wonder if they can trust Ishimaru once he's out of hearing range. Anzai decides he should tell Dr. Kanou about Ishimaru forcing him to drink his blood.

They all hear a noise coming from outside and go to see what it is. It's an anti-devil protest. Sawazaki goes to see who's leading it. Tsukasa notices Nine in the crowd. He's very anxious about the crowd around him and he's upset with himself for always running away from difficult things. He thinks if he had acted differently, he could have saved his fellow members. Ishimaru and the others catch up to him and ask what he's doing. They offer to help him look for Zero Seven. He also wants him to hack into the CCC's computers and get the member list.

Back in Nanako's flashback, she is devastated that she fell for another police officer and holes herself up in her room. Kikuhara barges into her room and congratulates her on her test results. He then comes clean about his job and even compares himself to Morisawa - the man who killed her mother. He tells her that devils - all devils - are dangerous and that they are gradually being pushed out of society. They need to be eliminated before they can hurt any more people. He then tells her he isn't sexually attracted to her, or anyone. This brought her great comfort, because the real reason she shot Morisawa was because that the whole time he was raping her mother, he was moaning Nanako's name and she knew who he actually wanted. Even though he told her there was no point in falling for him, she fell anyway, and Kikuhara knew that from the beginning.

Chapter Notes

 * Nanako and Zero Nine have a small fight and she doesn't return to the hotel that night.
 * When Nanako was in high school, Kikuhara deliberately wormed his way into Nanako's life and helped her with math.
 * Nanako was devastated when she discovered Kikuhara was a police officer just like Morisawa.
 * Kikuhara told her all devils are like Morisawa and they need to be eliminated.
 * Nanako fell in love with Kikuhara because he felt safe.
 * People hold a protest of devils in the streets.
 * F Squad agrees to help Nine locate Zero Seven.

Characters

 * Nanako Tenjo
 * Zero Nine
 * Kirio Kikuhara
 * Yasuyoshi Toudou
 * Yoshiyuki Uno
 * Tsukasa Taira
 * Toshiro Sakaki
 * Hans Lee
 * Yuuki Anzai
 * Megumi Ishimaru
 * Juliana Lloyd
 * Takashi Sawazaki
 * Fifteen
 * Kousuke Chizu
 * Kenichi Morisawa (no dialogue)