Akane Sawatari

Snake-like eyes set Akane apart, red and slit-pupiled, usually resting above a flat, bored expression. She is small and slight, her cropped blonde hair darkening to brown at the roots, and her hands tend to stay buried in her pockets. Her everyday look pairs an oversized red hoodie with black shorts and orange-and-white Nike Air Max 97 sneakers, though a photo from her gun-running days catches her in a tracksuit. While Makima puppets her corpse for the Snake Devil contract, she instead wears the standard Public Safety uniform of dress shirt, tie, and dark trousers.

A composed, level manner is Akane's default, but it cracks under pressure, as when Makima's long-range counterattack starts wiping out her men and leaves her rattled. Her habit of pocketing her hands is no idle pose: it hides the bloody nail beds left by her Snake Devil pacts, keeping onlookers from seeing exactly what she gives up each time she calls on the devil.

An early arrangement has Akane swap Katana Man's heart for the Katana Devil, granting him his hybrid form. During the Katana Man arc she revives him after Aki downs him and orders him to finish the kill. When Himeno's full Ghost Devil threatens him, Akane has her Snake Devil gulp the ghost down whole, then revives and repairs her ally before later spitting the Ghost Devil back out to fight on her behalf. Every summon, whether swallowing, releasing, or lashing with the serpent's tail, costs her a fingernail and relies on free hand motions, so binding her hands shuts the power off. After Makima crushes her subordinates from Kyoto, Akane bolts with Katana Man, only for Kobeni to corner her and press a blade to her throat. Makima later briefs Public Safety on her past as a civilian hunter contracted to the Gun Devil, noting that the Snake Devil killed her, almost certainly through an involuntary suicide clause meant to keep captured agents from talking. Her body resurfaces in the Gun Devil arc, chained among others to Makima so that her lingering Snake Devil contract can be aimed back at the Gun Devil.