Now they were already inside for about an hour. Akimasa, starting to get restless. He felt the law enforcers by now must have known what had happened in the building. In fact, likely, communication between the invaders and the police had already been established. If the invaders had expressed their demands by now, law enforcement would have pretended to consider the demands while devising a ploy to enter the building, freed the hostages, and incapacitated the gunmen.
Suddenly, someone fell to the floor. The man just collapsed. He seemed to be one cook in the kitchen. At this moment, he groaned while clutching his chest. Akimasa ran to the kitchen door and banged on it with all his might. Several people followed in his footsteps. Apart from banging on the door, they also banged on the cooking utensils there, making a deafening noise.
The kitchen door opened. A gunman entered inside while still holding his gun. Akimasa and several others took three or four steps back.
"What is wrong?" The gunman snapped.