Episode 2

## Safe House

**Safe House** (セーフハウス, *Sēfuhausu*?) is the second episode of the *Devils' Line* anime series. It aired April 14, 2018.

## Summary

It has now been a month since Akimura's disappearance, supposedly because he went to study in Canada, and Tsukasa is caught zoning out in her class, lost in thought over recent events. She has not seen Anzai since the incident, and is starting to wonder if she imagined the whole thing.

The story then cuts to a flashback of the night that Akimura was arrested. Anzai eventually broke off the kiss, having injected sedative into himself to regain some control and change his eyes back to normal color. Before leaving, he reveals that he is actually half-vampire.

In her apartment, Tsukasa hopes for Akimura's safety, muses on her kiss with Anzai, and wonders where he is now. She then opens the curtain of her balcony and is taken aback to find Anzai on the other side! Anzai, equally surprised, explains that he came by the telephone pole and offers to arrange for her to visit Akimura, as he notes that she she is worried about him as she always pauses at the place where he was arrested. Mentally, Tsukasa feels guilty that she has been so caught up in her kiss with Anzai that she has largely forgotten about Akimura.

The conversation is abruptly cut off when Anzai receives a radio message that suspect, Yuuko Tamaru, is believed to be hiding in a building nearby. Tsukasa notices that Anzai has left a wallet behind and goes after him.

At Mikusa Building, Yuuko is cornered, drenched in blood. She was making dinner that evening when her husband cut himself and jokingly asked her to lick the blood off his finger. Yuuko promptly lost control and the next thing she knew, she was stabbing her own husband and drinking his blood. Yuuko bursts into tears, mourning that for all her cautiousness, living with a human still couldn't work out in the end. Anzai gently reprimands her that her husband offering her his bloody finger wasn't careful at all, and that Yuuko was so desperate to retain his affection that she kept the truth about herself from him. Thus, Yuuko is arrested by Senior Officer Sawazaki and Officer Anzai. Tsukasa quietly witnesses the entire event from afar and goes home without revealing herself.

As soon as she gets home, Anzai arrives on the balcony and confronts her about following him, and Tsukasa hold up his wallet as her alibi. Anzai thanks her and tells her that she doesn't need to bring him his things in the future. He reflects on Yuuko, who was a childhood friend of his; they used to make snowmen together. Before Anzai leaves, he accepts an invitation from Tsukasa to come back for hot pot the next day.

Anzai meets up with coworkers Jill and Yanagi at a bar, where he is teased about always running off lately, with Jill inviting him to her place for "company". They discuss a new clause to Devil Conduct Guidelines Article 1, which now states that sexual intercourse between devil and human is now legal as long as there is a doctor present and mutual consent. Anzai's creed is that it is too dangerous for devils and humans should live apart, since it is too dangerous to live together.

At night, Tsukasa goes return a book to Professor Ochiai. The professor invites her in for tea, then sexually assaults her, stopping only when she shatters her tea mug and smashes her fist bloody against the window to create a diversion. Then, despite her struggles, he continues the assault. He is startled into stopping when Anzai appears in the window. In his rage, Anzai transforms into his vampire state, breaks in, and begins punching Professor Ochiai, only stopping when Tsukasa steps in before he kills him. Just then, someone knocks on the professor's door to investigate the noise, so Anzai gives Tsukasa his coat and leaves.

Professor Ochiai is given a disciplinary dismissal, and Tsukasa's hand heals, but she has started to have dreams regarding the professor, so she has taken to wearing Anzai's coat to sleep, as it seems to keep away the bad dreams. On one such night, Anzai comes in through the unlocked balcony door and is startled to find that she is awake. She has left him a Christmas present as a thank-you for everything he has done for her. They hug, and Anzai promises to get her something too.

## Characters

In order of appearance:

* Tsukasa Taira
* Keiji Ochiai
* Miwako Toda
* Yuuki Anzai
* Yuuko Tamaru
* Takashi Sawazaki
* Toshiro Sakaki
* Ryusei Yanagi