Line 43

Closer is the first chapter of the ninth volume of the Devils' Line manga series and the forty-third chapter.

Summary
Yuuki Anzai sits in his room at Dr. Kanou's clinic. He has a board filled with notes on how to live safely with humans. Kanou gives him a prototype device that is worn around the thigh. When his ring detects his body temperature is at 104 degrees, it injects a tranquilizer into the leg.

Anzai hears about the explosion that Kikuhara was injured in while riding in the car with his guardian, Ogata. Anzai gets more information about it from Ishimaru during their meeting to discuss what Anzai knows about Kikuhara. Since the CCC seems to be erasing its members and the Ministry of Health is getting many devil-related laws passed, Ishimaru wonders aloud if it's the Ministry of Heath that is pulling the strings. He covers his mouth once he realizes he shouldn't be telling Anzai, who is now a civilian, and unemployed. He goes on to ask about Anzai's past with Kikuhara.

At the same restaurant, in the next booth, Sawazaki and Ogata talk about the prototype Anzai is wearing. Sawazaki also asks about Ogata's transfer from the riot squad. Ogata seems to have trouble chasing after Anzai whenever he goes off on his own. Ogata offers to leave if Sawazaki wants to catch up with Anzai, but Sawazaki says it's good enough just to see him face.

Ishimaru's phone buzzes and he gets a message saying Section 11 will pick up Kikuhara from the hospital. Section 11 will put him under formal protection. Anzai says he wants to go with so he can tell Kikuhara something.

Kikuhara is leaving the hospital with members of section 11 when they arrive. The left half of his face is completely covered in bandages except for his eye as well as his neck. Anzai tells Kikuhara that he's sorry for forgetting about him and their friendship. Kikuhara denies they were ever friends, but from Anzai's perspective when he was a child, it really felt like a friendship. Kikuhara is caught off guard by Anzai's naive words.

When Anzai gets back in the car, Ogata is flustered that Anzai would apologize to someone who tried to kill him. Anzai is just relieved he got to say he was sorry for back then. Everyone parts for the night. Anzai will stay at Bar Sakaki. Sawazaki gets a message from Jill saying she's moving out.

Queen takes a look at Kikuhara's injury at his hospital and changes the dressing. Despite all of the things that seem to be backfiring on Kikuhara, he says they are ready for a plan he and the original members of the CCC came up with five years ago.

Sawazaki goes home to find Jill all packed up and doing a bit of cleaning before she leaves. She is clearly in distress and Sawazaki asks her what's wrong. She is still dwelling on why she wasn't fired. Sawazaki tells her he knew she was really afraid of getting fired, so he made sure her punishment was lighter. But, more than that is bothering her. She is disappointed with herself for never deploying when her squad mates were in danger and always following her orders. Compared to Yuuki and Hans Lee, she feels useless and now she can't even go outside due to all the protests. She compares it to having a disease, which strikes a nerve with Sawazaki who was told something similar by Kaname Yukimori. When Jill turns to leave for good, Sawazaki grabs her by the arm and says not to. Seeing the pain in his eyes, Jill slowly walks back to him and hugs him. He squeezes her back tightly.

Midori Anzai gets off the phone with someone and tells Julius Kurtz that she's finally gotten permission from everyone to tell Yuuki more about his lineage, but there are conditions.

While Yuuki is back at Sakaki's with Ishimaru and Ogata, he gets a call from Kanou about Midori's news. The condition of learning more about himself is that he must visit one of the people involved back at his home in Obihiro.

Meanwhile, Tsukasa is planning her trip to Obihiro to read the journal's Midori invited her to read.

In Minato Ward, a devil is being chased by a gang of extremists carrying bats and crowbars. They are all wearing masks to hide their identities. Hans Lee catches sight of the incident from atop a building. One of the extremists accuses the devil of being a future criminal, an accident waiting to happen, and shakes a bag of blood at him. Lee drops in to stop the harassment before it gets out of hand. His hair is shorter now, but much messier.

Chapter Notes

 * Anzai receives a prototype auto-tranq device from Dr. Kanou.
 * Anzai meets with Ishimaru to discuss Kikuhara.
 * Anzai goes to see Kikuhara at the hospital to apologize for forgetting about him.
 * Kikuhara is ready to set another plan in motion.
 * Sawazaki tries to comfort a distraught Jill who is determined to stop living with him. They hug each other tightly.
 * Anzai is called to Obihiro to visit someone and to learn more about himself.
 * Tsukasa is also planning to go to Obihiro to read academic journals.
 * Hans Lee steps in to stop extremists from harassing a young devil.

Characters

 * Yuuki Anzai
 * Akio Kanou
 * Tomoaki Ogata
 * Megumi Ishimaru
 * Takashi Sawazaki
 * Kirio Kikuhara
 * Queen
 * Juliana Lloyd
 * Kaname Yukimori (no dialogue)
 * Midori Anzai
 * Julius Kurtz
 * Toshiro Sakaki
 * Tsukasa Taira (no dialogue)
 * Hans Lee
 * Keiji Ochiai