Line 26

Near (ニア) is the fourth chapter of the fifth volume and the overall twenty-sixth chapter of the Devils' Line manga series.

Summary
This chapter begins five years before the rest of the story, on January 31, 2008. Officers Takashi Sawazaki, Yousuke Asami, and Kenji Kaneko of Division 1 are investigating a case of missing women and find two corpses which have been burnt and buried. Because of the heavy rain, they discover that the corpses have fangs.

At headquarters, their case is transferred to Division 5, which Sawazaki hasn't even heard of and he's told to work with them on the case. The leader of Division 5, Section 2, AC-1 Squad, Kaname Yukimori, arrives with the rest of his squad and details the case. So far, 12 young women are missing and only four of their bodies have been found. The case was transferred to Division 5 when it became clear it was a devil related crime. One member of Division 1 still doesn't believe in vampires, so Yukimori admits that he and some of his subordinates are also devils. It's not enough to convince him, and he storms out. Sawazaki asks about devils and Yukimori compares it to having a disease. Sawazaki is shocked by the wording.

Yukimori goes on to explain that two of the missing women - one a human and one a devil - had both of their kidneys removed and Sawazaki presumes they had them transplanted into each other. Even though devil and human bodies are said to be identical, whoever did the surgery hypothesized differently.

Yukimori takes Sawazaki and Asami out to dinner. There, they run into Juliana Lloyd who is in B Squad. Asami wonders if she and Yukimori are a couple, but Yukimori holds up a ring on his right ring finger and says he has a girlfriend.

A week later, a troubled Yukimori tells Sawazaki that he hasn't been able to contact his girlfriend and he's worried she's the next victim.

One of the missing women was found in Heiwajima, but she was shot by the officers in AB squad since she was transformed and out of control. The commissioner orders humans only to deploy. Sawazaki naively says they can use tranquilizers and the commissioner tells him they can't. Yukimori wants to come on the off-chance that his girlfriend is there. Sawazaki doesn't allow him to and promises he will save her if she's there.

Sawazaki takes charge of the mission and orders his officers to shoot for the limbs of devils so as not to kill them. They arrive at the warehouse in Heiwajima and orders Asami to join AB squad while the rest go through the front. The second they open the door, a crazed devil flies out and attacks Officer Hamaya. His fellow officer, Kasagi, shoots the devil in the head in the heat of the moment, and kills her. Asami informs Sawazaki that AB Squad was ambushed from above and they shot and killed two devils themselves. As far as the other officers know, that's all of the missing people, but Sawazaki knows about Yukimori's girlfriend, Akane. She swoops down on top of Sawazaki with a knife.

Two scientists, Doctor Yabuta and Queen, watch the scene unfold from a safe location amongst the storage warehouses. The goal of their experiment was to see if switching out the organs in a devil would decrease their bloodlust or ability to transform and they proved that it did not. Queen kills the doctor for failing to restrain the devils and allowing them to escape.

Akane lies dead at Sawazaki's feet. She managed to stab him deeply in his right arm. In the distance, Yukimori watches in disbelief. Sawazaki feels deep regret and in his mind he pleads for Yukimori to kill him. Yukimori comes to him and begins to transform with his rising emotions and the sight of blood. Before he loses control he comments on how painfully predictable this outcome was. Yukimori clutches his face, trying to hold on, reaches into his pocket, and is shot dead by an unknown officer in front of Sawazaki. Sawazaki cries out and clings to Yukimori, who he has let down and betrayed.

Chapter Notes

 * The case that defined Sawazaki's feelings toward devils is revealed.
 * Sawazaki was working in Division 1 when his team stumbled upon a devil case.
 * He teamed up with Division 5 AC-1 Squad and their leader Yukimori to solve the mystery of the missing women.
 * The evidence leads them to a warehouse and the human officers go to find the last of the missing women.
 * Sawazaki promises to save Yukimori's girlfriend, who is one of the missing women.
 * Sawazaki orders them not to kill the devils, but in the chaos, all four, including Yukimori's girlfriend, are shot.
 * Yukimori witnesses this, loses control, and is shot in front of Sawazaki.
 * Queen was behind the crime, but never discovered. He was experimenting to see if devils with human organs would transform less. There was no change.

Characters

 * Kenji Kaneko
 * Yousuke Asami
 * Takashi Sawazaki
 * Kaoru Munakata
 * Kengo Kasagi
 * Kaname Yukimori
 * Toshiro Sasanuma (no dialogue)
 * Yuu Kagasaki (no dialogue)
 * Daisuke Sakuma
 * Kouki Touma (no dialogue)
 * Youhei Kurita
 * Yasuyoshi Toudou (no dialogue)
 * Seiichi Takimoto
 * Juliana Lloyd
 * Shou Hamaya
 * Akane (no dialogue)
 * Queen
 * Ichirou Yabuta