The alarms kept blaring, and rumbling sounds came from both upstairs and downstairs, like an earthquake.
A burst of shrill screams and sobs soon rang out from the direction of the stairs, along with the thuds of people tumbling down them. Someone shouted loudly:
"The shooter's downstairs! Someone's dead on the stairs! Stop pushing forward!"
"Take the elevator!"
"The elevator's stuck! It's stuck downstairs!"
The chaotic commotion surprised Hatoyama. He had worked here for half his life and had never heard the company make such a racket. It was hard to imagine that the normally expressionless company employees were now crying and screaming like frightened animals.
Hatayama Ryunosuke finally wiped the blood from his eyes. His vision became clear again, with a faint dark-red tint around the edges, but it did not matter.
Two colleagues who had failed to squeeze into the elevator were kneeling on the floor, repeatedly kowtowing to him and crying for mercy, but their words were completely unintelligible.
Hatoyama walked over unhurriedly and fired once, then again. The necks of the two kowtowing colleagues snapped, and they began twitching on the floor. Blood sprayed across the elevator doorframe, and another wave of frantic screams erupted from inside the elevator.
Many people screamed until their throats bled:
"The elevator's overloaded! Get out of here, quickly!!"
"There are more than ten of us! If we rush him together, we can beat Hatoyama! We'll all be killed if we stay trapped here!"
"Charge! Let's fight Hatoyama! Hurry, charge!"
The people inside the elevator shrieked at the top of their lungs. Their terrified cries rang across the corridor all the way to the stairwell, and soon a burst of despairing sobs rang out from upstairs as well.
But no one rushed out. Everyone pushed into the elevator while crying. Some