Hey, Izumi-kun.
Did you hear about that incident...
You know, the girl who was recently murdered in a neighboring town?
Oh, I heard about that!
It's been making the rounds online!
I heard you were the first one to find the victim, Izumi-kun!
Hey, Akiho!
You okay?
Yeah.
You?
I'm okay, too.
So, um...
Yeah...
That day when we had planned to go see a movie... I...
It's awful when so many sad things happen.
Yeah.
Parasyte
The Maxim
Regardless of all these dining locations we prepared,
Hello Sadness
he intentionally fed outside of the designated areas
and was killed.
An unfortunate incident, indeed.
He gave in to the immediacy of hunger,
then squabbled with his own kind.
How self-centered... Just like animals.
I'm glad he's dead.
It's not that simple.
The end result is that we have provided humans with another sample,
and the perpetrator has yet to come forward.
Could it have been the work of a human?
Indeed.
It was he who killed one of us.
The boy who found the dead human.
Izumi Shinichi.
He most likely snapped when he saw that his friend was murdered.
"Friend"?
"Snapped"?
Is his brain entirely human?
Yes.
His brain remains intact,
and he is coexisting with his parasite.
You could say that he is a valuable sample.
A sample, huh?
He sounds like he could be a threat.
I am making an effort to secure a better future for all of us.
I ask you to consider my investigation of him as being a part of that endeavor.
Very well.
I'll leave the matter of the boy to you.
By the way, Tamura-san,
how is your child?
It is living a normal life,
although I am rearing it with human assistance.
Oh, my.
There, there.
What's the matter?
I've changed your diaper.
There, there.
Oh, it's Mommy.
Hello, welcome back.
Quiet.
I have it trained well, don't I?
What?
Thank you for the help.
Please come again tomorrow.
O-Of course.
I... I'll be going, then!
If I were to conduct an experiment of some kind,
I would first need to let it grow a bit more.
I investigated for a solid week,
but found nothing out of the ordinary.
It's of interest that his mother has gone missing
and that he's a witness in the high school girl's murder,
but he's truly just an average high school student.
Yes, that's right.
I understand.
Please continue your investigation.
An "average high school student," huh?
Human powers of observation are less than impressive.
However, there are some things only humans are capable of.
I could not test him using Shimada Hideo...
But perhaps I'll try something.
Izumi Shinichi, right?
Who put you up to this?
A... A w-woman...
A woman?
What's her name?
Don't know...
Just met her today, for the first time.
It's the truth!
Yo.
Kamijo.
Why the gloomy face so early in the morning?
It's not gloomy.
Things going well with your girlfriend?
What things?
Don't play dumb.
You know what I mean.
Cut it out!
Nothing like that's going on.
Stop joking around.
So... I don't really want to get into this,
but you've heard about Izumi-kun, right?
Huh?
I heard he was the first one to find the victim in the recent murder,
and he knew the girl who was killed.
Yeah, I know.
What about it?
Did your brother say something?
Not really.
It's just that, even though something like that happened,
he's so calm.
He's acting too... normal.
Morning.
B-Bye, Satomi.
What's up with her?
Nothing.
Back when he saved my life,
he was also so calm and strong.
It was like he was someone else.
But was there really nothing going on between him and Kana?
No, that's not the point.
Even if nothing was going on,
isn't he being a bit cold about all this?
Murano?
Sorry, I have to go take care of something.
Huh? Uh...
Well, it sure was a shock
to see how fast he could move.
I can hardly believe he's human.
And?
Did you notice anything else?
What do you mean by that?
Well, did anything else seem unnatural?
Was his right hand moving in a peculiar way, for example?
Let me think...
No, nothing really stood out.
So some other specific change must've occurred.
I wonder what's wrong.
Maybe what happened to Kana is getting to Murano.
Yeah, of course it is.
It'd be weirder if it didn't.
Considering what happened,
I'm the one who's strange for being so calm about it.
It's not normal.
What are you going on about now?
You're a perfectly fine human being.
You are not like me or my kind.
Hearing you say that makes me lose even more confidence in myself.
Either way, our conversation is generating a certain amount of noise.
If you talk out loud on top of that,
your father will become suspicious of all the noise.
Dad,
I'm going out for a bit.
Don't stay out too late.
I won't.
Where's he off to at this time of night?
If I recall,
this is the city where the girl was murdered.
Why would the first one to find the victim
go back to the crime scene?
There's something going on.
Given his actions earlier today
and what he's doing now,
Izumi Shinichi has a big secret!
Shinichi, why are we here?
I can't explain it well,
but I think it's true
that I now tend to forget painful or sad things really quickly.
And is that wrong?
I wasn't like this before.
I used to obsess over the smallest things,
and worry all the time...
Now, that's what I would call a waste of time.
That's not what I mean!
Who is he talking to?
Himself?
I think Kana approached that monster because she mistakenly thought it was me.
And it got her killed.
Because of me!
You should stop thinking like that.
No, for her, I want to...
This might be a strange way to put it,
but I want to mourn her death more.
I don't want to forget how sad it makes me feel...
As a human being.
Hmm...
M-Monster!
Migi!
What are you trying to do?!
What else? I'm going to kill him!
Wait! Stop!
Get out of here! Hurry!
Shinichi! Don't interfere!
What are you doing?! Run!
I don't have sufficient weight to slice him in half.
Not good.
If he gets any further away...
Someone, help!
Tsk.
Migi...
Hey!
Do you comprehend the position you're in now?!
We've been seen by a total stranger!
With a camera, no less!
Run!
Follow him!
And kill him!
No, we can't kill him!
Migi, stop it!
Many humans in your vicinity have already died.
What's one more death?
It's to protect ourselves, no less.
There is no reason to hesitate!
I said, "no!"
We can't do this!
I'm tired.
We can't kill a human being,
no matter what the reason!
He got away.
It's too late to catch up with him now.
You took a while.
Did something happen?
No.
Nothing happened.
I hope not.
That male
appears to have been targeting you specifically in his investigations.
It means that, although he knows a lot about us,
we know nothing about him.
If he's a journalist,
or, say, a cop or someone with the government,
we're finished.
We will become lab rats, without a doubt.
Lab rats...
Izumi-kun...
You monster!
Did you eat people?!
Ugh!
Stay away from me!
Izumi Shinichi is a parasite!
What, Izumi?!
Izumi?!
Izumi!
Hey, Izumi!
Read the next page.
Weren't you listening?
Sheesh.
If you don't want to be here, just go home.
Izumi!
Hey, he actually left.
Izumi-kun...
They'll come.
I'm sure of it.
Someone will come to make me into a lab rat.
But before that happens, one of my kind may terminate us.
Either way,
Deleted. Back
we will suffer consequences.
What should I...
What should I do?
Maybe if I cut off this arm now, while Migi's asleep...
As if I could do that.
Who was he?
Who's after me...
After us?
Could he still be watching us today, right now?
Mom, this way!
Wait, Saki-chan.
Moving on to traffic updates...
Delivery!
Wait!
Listen!
Please, hear me out!
Why?
Why is this happening?
Why is all this happening to me?
I can always calm down right away.
That's how my heart works now.
There's no going back now.
If that's the case, I might as well...
What's wrong?
Why'd you ask to see me out of the blue?
Well, um...
About Tachikawa...
Huh?
I mean, um...
She seems back to her old cheerful self,
and she managed to avoid getting a scar on her face.
You called me out here just to say that?
Oh, um, not really.
I wanted to talk to you, that's all.
It's like you don't expect us to meet again.
Th-That's not true.
Izumi-kun, you seem like your mind is muddled.
I feel kind of muddled, too, actually .
Can I start?
Sure.
I've been trying not to dwell on it,
but I can't help myself.
It's about Kana-san.
You canceled our date that day
to go meet with Kana-san, right?
It must've been important.
At least, more important than seeing a movie with me.
I've been wanting to talk to you about a lot of things, butâ€”
Why don't you?!
Why don't you tell me everything?!
You should just tell me everything!
Izumi-kun, something has been bothering you, right?
Something besides the thing with Kana-san.
That's not...
I can tell!
It's got you so worried
that not even someone dying
is that big of a deal to you anymore, is it?
That's...
That's not true.
Izumi-kun, you're strong.
You're really strong.
But sometimes, I can barely stand to watch you.
You're so desperate to keep something in check.
So... What happened?
Don't try so hard to go it alone.
Talk to me.
Murano...
Nothing!
Nothing's going on!
Huh?
How can I believe that nothing's going on?!
I can't even talk to you if you're going to be like this!
Don't say that.
If even you say that to me, I...
I... I'll tell you!
I'll tell you, okay?
Satomi!
My body...
My body has a...
Seriously, nothing's going on.
I guess you don't trust me at all.
I can't do anything about the fact that you won't believe me.
Izumi-kun, your eyes...
They're so empty.
The Selfish Gene
Next time:
"The Selfish Gene."