Macabre Goods

Macabre Goods (物ッ怪屋) is a short story in the manga anthology Neo Parasyte F, written and illustrated by Asumiko Nakamura. It is Case 1 in the volume.

Synopsis
A strange shop sells strange remedies, and a desperate man purchases one for his ailing wife.

Summary
An old man selling unlabeled packages and canisters states that he doesn't ask his customers' reasons, but the man in front of him still begs to tell his tale to find closure for his soul. He explains that he has a much younger wife who has been struck with a serious illness and is bedridden, an illness that no doctors could fix, and came to the shop as a last resort.

The old man tells him that even "it" cannot heal those doomed for death, musing that if "it" occupies a dying host, both may perish. The man asks if she would still look like his wife even if said remedy changes her on the inside, and pleads to be sold it regardless. The shopkeeper agrees.

The remedy is brought home and revealed to be a larval parasite, which invades and takes over his wife. The man watches, calling her name, Miyuki, then surrenders himself to her to be with her forever, as the parasite she now is splits into blades and kills him.

Miyuki later arrives at the shop where the merchant is reading a newspaper article about the immolation of the dead man's home. He praises her for her cleanup of the situation. She tells the old man that it had been her husband who was ill, and, unable to cure himself, decided on his ideal method of death. The old man calls him a nuisance who should have just died quietly alone, revealing himself to too be a parasite. He then tells the young woman to approach.

The final shot reveals the shopkeeper to have had multiple parasites, all of them having migrated to Miyuki's much younger body and with their own opinions. The head parasite has changed his face's appearance to appear as a young man, though still wearing the same outfit as his first identity. A couple of the parasites consider splitting off as they are becoming too numerous for one body to host.

Characters

 * Shopkeeper (parasite)
 * Customer (deceased)
 * Miyuki (parasite)
 * Various other parasites