Line 24

## Line 24: Don't Cry

Cover of the twenty-fourth chapter

**Don't Cry** (ドントクライ, *Donto Kurai*?) is the second chapter of the fifth volume and the overall twenty-forth chapter of the *Devils' Line* manga series.

## Summary

Hans Lee stands atop Tokyo Tower waiting for a reply from one of his donors. He looks up at the night sky, thinking about how seeing it was the reason he ran away. He gets a response from someone named Feng Jing which comes as a relief because his eye is already starting to revert to normal.

At the R2PC conference Midori Anzai comes back from the bathroom looking a little shaken. The conference starts with words from Susumu Sofue regarding the events of the recent Ikebukuro incident. Currently, they have no plans to take action, but will monitor the situation to see if anything can be done.

Next, Midori takes the stage. She states that Article 113, which permits sex between humans and devils with doctor supervision, should be repealed. She points to data that shows out of all the cases where a devil/human couple came forward to ask for a doctor, all of them were rejected. She says the doctors realize just how dangerous a rampaging devil is and a tranquilizer is unreliable. If something goes wrong, the human dies and the devil goes to jail. She says the article is being used as a trap to identify devils and remove them from society. Her opinions aren't popular.

Lee arrives at Feng's apartment. She is more than happy to hand over four doses because she finds him attractive. Lee says it's too much and as a doctor she should know that. He threatens to stop coming if she keeps it up. Then, she gets woozy and he helps her lie down on the couch. He takes a dose at her behest. Lee tells her he's the only hybrid with a single-eye transformation and that he's going to teach another hybrid how to get used to blood, too. Feng congratulates him for finally making a friend.

Lee remembers back to his childhood at ONLO. He is in a room all alone, surrounded by books. He asks the armed guard in the room about the sky, but the man dismisses him harshly. In a different room, he is tied upright with his limbs bound. A scientist tells him to drink all of the blood being poured in through a tube to his mouth. His eyes are both transformed. The scientists have made different sized cuts along his arms. As he drinks the blood, they start to close. Though he is transformed, he seems calm. He thinks only of the sky.

As he got older. Chief Kurtz continued to give him books. They made Lee more cooperative and the single-eye transformation was eventually successful. The isolation finally becomes too much and he escapes with a gun he stole from a guard. Midori Anzai catches him and he tells her he intends to return after he sees the sky. She tells him to never come back. She gives him her cash card and tells him his real name. She hopes he can find a place where he can feel at home.

What Midori said reminds him of Yuuki's curfew to be back by 6. He continues chatting with Feng about Yuuki and Tsukasa. He calls Yuuki a coward and Tsukasa brave and both cry-babies.

Anzai and Tsukasa are having dinner at the restaurant in the building where the conference is being held. It's their first time eating out together. Anzai recommends that she continue staying at Bar Sakaki instead of going home because it would be easier to protect her. She says it'll be easier to see each other too, so she is happy about the suggestion. The conference ends and Dr. Kanou sits down at their table. He tells them about the conference and that they'll start his bloodlust training tomorrow.

Midori tells her coworkers that she's going home early and Kurtz offers to accompany her.

Lee gets back to Bar Sakaki and runs into Anzai on the roof. He is more than four hours late. Anzai asks if he's hungry and tells him to ask Sakaki to whip something up.

Midori and Kurtz arrive at the lab at ONL. Midori talks to a devil in restraints behind a glass wall. She tells him all about Yuuki and his human girlfriend. The devil clenches his fist with worry, but she assures him they'll be okay. Using sign language, he says he wants to hug Yuuki and Midori. She hopes that day comes. Tamaki Anzai's face is revealed. He has long fangs, but his eyes aren't transformed, and he is covered in scars. He is crying.

## Chapter Notes

* The R2PC is not taking any action in regards to the Ikebukuro incident currently.
* Midori Anzai announces to the R2PC that Article 113 is a trap to identify and capture devils.
* Hans Lee visits Feng Jing, a blood donor who has a crush on him.
* Hans Lee remembers his childhood at ONLO. He was kept isolated and experimented on.
	+ He escaped ONLO to see the sky.
	+ Midori Anzai helped him escape and told him not to come back.
* At their first meal out, Anzai asks Tsukasa to live at Bar Sakaki with him.
* Hans Lee returns to Bar Sakaki and wonders if he's become part of a family.
* Midori returns to ONL and talks to Tamaki about her meeting with their son.

## Characters

* Hans Lee
* Haruto Minegishi
* Masami Komatsu
* Julius Kurtz
* Midori Anzai
* Susumu Sofue
* Akio Kanou
* Kaname Shirase (no dialogue)
* Feng Jing
* Yuuki Anzai
* Tsukasa Taira
* Tamaki Anzai