Chapter 52

Surrounded (包囲, Hōi) is the 52nd chapter of the Parasyte manga series, written and illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki.

Overview
''As the military finish their preparations, they begin to surround the City Hall. They first round up all the people inside the building, and begin evacuating seven at a time. While they're being evacuated, they will also be scanned. Using this method, the military is able to identify their first target.''

Summary
The day of the City Hall Massacre starts off with Yamagishi explaining the plans in a meeting. They have eight buses lined up to transport civilians and conceal the soldiers and x-ray scanner. Inside City Hall, the civilians question what is happening. Takeshi Hirokawa and Gotou look down as the police assemble around the building. As they finish, military members burst in and declare an emergency, claiming to be policemen and that a dangerous shooter has hidden near the roof. They urge everyone not to leave, and that they should gather on the first floor.

Several staff members enter Hirokawa's office in a panic. He advises them to calm down and they head together to join the rest, Hirokawa internally scoffing that none of the "police" present are from their city forces. He then wonders exactly what they plan to do, finding it hard to believe they might just kill all the humans as well.

The x-ray scanners planned to detect parasites are brought in line. Inside, they set up a plan to evacuate civilians, while Hirokawa declares that the staff should leave last. Outside, Uragami watches the proceedings on video camera, but is unable to tell anything from the grainy monitor. Hirama brings in Shinichi Izumi, which makes Uragami laugh at the police for their questionable choices. Shinichi is likewise unable to recognize any parasites on the small screen. Hirama asks him about the five-in-one parasite, which makes him think back to Reiko Tamura telling him something about Hirokawa before she was interrupted.

The first several groups of civilians leave, none of whom are parasites. Shinichi asks if Migi can count how many there are in total, but Migi is unable to discern the exact number, though he knows there are many. The military moves up to groups of ten, and a parasite finally crosses the scanner.