Rapid footsteps echoed up the stairs as Second Lieutenant Yasuda Masao and his guards hurried toward the second floor, their boots resounding through the empty corridor.
The group quickly reached the door of the telecommunications room. Burning with anxiety, Yasuda shoved the door open. Instantly, a thick, pungent wave of blood hit his senses. Inside, corpses lay scattered about at random. Colonel Ando Yamano lay slumped in a vast pool of blood, long since lifeless. At this sight, Yasuda's pupils constricted sharply. Shock and rage instantly overspread his face, and his fists clenched involuntarily.
"Colonel!" Yasuda let out a mournful roar. Then, pulling his Nambu pistol from his holster, eyes wide with fury, he shouted orders: "Search the place! The killer must still be nearby!" He knew full well that with the commander dead, as the officer responsible for security, if he failed to find the assassin, he would undoubtedly be the first held accountable after the battle. Most likely, he would be judged derelict in his duties as a guard and ultimately ordered to commit ritual suicide to atrophied honor.
Chapter 412