Chapter 39

Assassin (刺客, Shikaku) is the 39th chapter of the Parasyte manga series, written and illustrated by Hitoshi Iwaaki.

Overview
''Shinichi's resolve to kill all the Parasites becomes stronger than ever, to the point he finds joy in the prospect of it. Migi then senses that three parasites are coming after them with the intent to kill, and soon falls asleep. Shinichi must thus evade his pursuers for four hours. However, only one person confronts Shinichi at the end of those hours. Migi reveals that their opponent, Miki, has three parasites in his body.''

Summary
Shinichi dreams about a half-skeletal monster who brings up a mirror and shows him his reflection, which scares him out of his sleep. At school, he realizes that he's seen the monster in another dream, then dismisses it to think about how he can get Migi to go along with his plans to eradicate parasites one by one. He inadvertently scares another student due to his menacing expression.

As the school bell rings, Migi stops him to warn of parasites incoming. Shinichi takes it as a cue to begin his fight against the species, but is stopped by the reveal that three are coming for him. Migi asks if he wants to fight or run, stating that fighting in the school is easiest. However, he flashes back to A and Hideo's rampages as well as Migi's first plan then, and vehemently refuses as he runs out of the school.

He crosses Satomi's path and she asks him what's wrong. As he leaves he tells her not to worry and that he'll be fine, the phrasing making her recall when he rescued her during Hideo's attack and she watches as he leaps the school fence, wondering what's happening this time. In class, the teacher wonders where Shinichi is.

After Shinichi puts over 300 meters between him and his pursuers, Migi stops him to discuss strategy. Shinichi expresses dismay at being attacked three-on-one and Migi is surprised that he didn't expect it. They decide to take out their enemies one at a time, coming just close enough that Shinichi can tell who they are, then back away to a high place where they can still see but can't be sensed, and snipe them like Hideo. Migi then trashes the plan because he's going to fall asleep and tells Shinichi to head in a straight line for four hours as the parasites are on foot.

Shinichi attempts to catch a train and a bus, but discards the ideas because the parasites will catch up before he can escape. He then calls a taxi and asks the driver to keep going for as much as his 1200 yen can pay, heading to an unoccupied plains area. However, as he begins to relax another taxi catches up and drops off a single man. Shinichi initially discards the suspicion of him being a parasite due to his expressiveness and lack of company, until he comments on Migi's weak signal.

Shinichi immediately begins running, surprised when the parasite is very slow on foot despite the species's ability to overwork the host body. However, he refuses to let down his guard due to the other two parasites pursuing him as well. Another car comes up beside him as he jogs down the road and allows him to hitchhike. Though suspicious, he eventually decides that the driver is probably not a parasite due to his small pet dog. He eventually asks the driver to drop him off later on the road as Migi's four hours of sleep are almost up.

However, as soon as he stops another truck comes by and the man pursuing him jumps off the back, failing to balance and falling. Migi wakes as the stranger approaches, and immediately exclaims that there are three parasites in his body. The man comments on Migi's name, standing for "right hand", and says he got his name the same way. His own hands then stretch out and attack Shinichi, and he laughs as he declares he's won.