Inoue san, who had collapsed, is lamenting with tears in her eyes.

Akabane san, who had luckily survived, also had a pale face with cold sweat beading on his forehead.

Though there's no way for us to know, there must have been interactions between them and the evacuees, so their sorrow is immeasurable.

We can't make Inoue san fight in this state.

The Cast leaps at us with rabbit like leg strength.

The Hole-Men also climb over obstacles and close in on us.

Just as Nemusia and I readied our respective weapons to intercept them—Inoue san swiftly stood up, tonfas in both hands.

"Enough... enough of this alreadyyyyy!"

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat! Bullets were fired wildly from the tips of the tonfas, shooting down the mid-air Cast.

Furthermore, the muzzles were turned toward the Hole Men, and the enemies were wiped out in the blink of an eye.

"Haa... haa... don't screw with me. Turning humans into something like that...! Bringing them back to life, toying with them, what do you think human lives are!"

Rabi Rabi chan regenerates and gets up.

Inoue san lunged at it and smashed the side of its head with a tonfa.

"Don't fuck with me, don't fuck with me, don't fuck with meeeeee!"

She further punches, kicks, snaps, and shoots through the staggering Rabi Rabi chan.

With the continuous attacks unleashed at a speed the eye couldn't follow, there was no room for us to step in.

"It is natural for her to be angry."

Nemusia, who had been dumbfounded until just a moment ago, said earnestly.

Inoue san had just been told she was dead a moment ago.

The people she had been spending time with until a few days ago were kidnapped, and now the few remaining survivors had been annihilated.

It's no wonder her frustration exploded.

However—no matter how much it was punched, pierced, or crushed, the Cast stood back up again and again.

Sharp claws sprouted from the tips of Rabi Rabi chan's hands.

The tonfa caught the descending claws.

"What the hell is this thing. Why won't you die!"

Inoue san thrust the tonfa opposite to the one blocking into the opponent's stomach and unleashed a Napalm Shot at point-blank range.

With an explosive Booom!, the entire building shook, and the glass rattled violently.

As orange explosive flames illuminated the room, Rabi Rabi chan's body was completely blown away, leaving only the tips of its feet and a part of its upper arm.

And within those scattered fragments, I found a piece of plastic reflecting light.

"There!"

I pierced the chunk of flesh with an Illusion Dagger, separating the object buried inside it.

Then, the remaining pieces of flesh gathered as if seeking that object.

"Inoue san, that name tag!"

"Eh? G-Got it!"

She reaches for the name tag that came out of the Cast's body.

And the moment her hand grabbed it, the Cast's flesh pieces stopped moving.

"It died...? Because I took this name tag?"

"The other Casts had the same thing embedded in them, so I thought it might be possible, but—it looks like that is the main body."

We rush over to Inoue san, who is holding the name tag.

Seeing the name written there, Nemusia instinctively raised her voice.

"Akabane!? Why is your name here. Don't tell me you are the monster's—"

"Wait, I don't know! More importantly, why is my name tag in a place like that!"

"You took out your bag this morning, right. I saw the name tag inside it back then, so I think you dropped it somewhere after that."

When I said that, Akabane san hurriedly ran to where his bag was placed.

He searched inside, but it seemed the name tag wasn't there.

"But, why did taking the name tag stop the Cast's movements?"

"Because that is the Cast's main body."

"Are you saying such a thin piece of board is the monster's main body?"

"I think it's fine for us to touch it, but if a normal person touches it, they'll immediately turn into a Cast, so be careful, Akabane san."

"U-Understood... no, wait, does that mean the mascot costume from earlier was also a human!?"

"Someone picked up the dropped name tag and transformed into a Cast. Then that person multiplied the Hole-Men, and they were all wiped out in the blink of an eye."

I don't know how a human transforms into a Cast.

Perhaps, at first, it was only a change to a degree indistinguishable by sight.

If so, it also makes sense why we heard the screams so late.

"Inoue san, let me borrow that."

Receiving the name tag from Inoue san, I placed it on the desk and stabbed it with Dreamer.

However, the name tag stopped the blade without a scratch.

"So hard."

"To think it cannot be cut by your knife, it must be protected by a mysterious power."

"So it's difficult to destroy while fighting a Cast."

If we want to defeat a Cast, we have no choice but to pull this name tag out of its body.

Moreover, we don't know where it's embedded.

Since this name tag was embedded in the slight remaining fragments when its body was blown away by Napalm Shot, there's even a possibility it can move freely.

Just like Gii.

But I can't just leave the name tag alone.

This time, shouting "Take that!", I thrust into it with Power Stab.

Then the table I had placed it on broke first.

The name tag—wasn't broken, but there was a crack on the surface.

Continuing, I slashed at it repeatedly with "Hmph, hmph, teeeei!"

After doing all this, the name tag finally split in two—

[Monster 'Cast Heart' Killed. Congratulations, you have leveled up to 59!]

It seems I gained a massive amount of experience points.

"Oh, it looks like your level went up."

"It's the same for me. Looks like it's treated as the three of us defeating it together."

"The Cast's combat ability itself isn't that much of a threat. Now that we know how to defeat them, the rest is basically bonus time."

To prepare for when we fight Suguro, I want to raise my level as much as possible.

While the preparations to trap Myourenji are progressing steadily, finding a means to do so was incredibly convenient.

"But why does a human holding a name tag turn into a monster?"

"Casts essentially refer to amusement park staff, so I guess it means exactly what it says."

"...Then are all those mascot costumes employees?"

Akabane san's voice trembled as he stared intently at the severed name tag.

"That's how it is. But they aren't going to die now; those people are already dead."

"Ah... you're right. It's not like someone is inside the mascot costume. They've already, long ago..."

Strength drained from his body, and he plopped down onto a chair.

And keeping his head hung, tears welled up in his eyes.

"How ironic. That I, the one who tried to run out of the workplace to save my daughter, would be the only one to survive."

The disappearance of Hikarinomiya Academy.

To find out the safety of his daughter who got caught up in it, Akabane san was about to leave this place.

That was exactly why he had already taken off his name tag.

To think that would result in him avoiding turning into a Cast—I can only say he was lucky.

"They were just working, hoping the guests would enjoy themselves. Why do they have to be turned into monsters!"

"They have no will to choose. They are just indiscriminately devouring lives."

"It's not that the people who got turned into monsters were particularly unlucky. I think we, the ones who survived, are just lucky."

"Lucky... you're right. I just happened to survive, and even though my daughter was taken away, she's still alive. It's no use for a blessed person like me to be depressed."

Though he said things that sounded like he had recovered, the smile Akabane san showed was stiff.

It probably isn't something that can be so easily digested.

Especially for someone who lived an honest life and had many comrades.

"So Inoue san, don't blame yourself thinking you couldn't protect them or anything."

"...You say things as if you can read minds."

"Anyone can tell by looking at your face. No one could have expected a Cast to spawn inside the restaurant, so this couldn't be helped."

"Yes, thanks to that, we figured out how to defeat the Casts. I want to believe their deaths weren't in vain."

We have to clean up the rolled-over corpses anyway.

It might be good to bury them near the trees growing outside and make a makeshift grave.

The reason I think that isn't to mourn the dead, but to help Inoue san recover even a little.

Even so—we now know the Cast's main body is the "name tag".

there is one strange thing.

"Erika, you have a frown between your eyebrows."

"I was wondering where Tsumori san's name tag went."

"The director's name tag? He definitely would be wearing it if he was working."

"From the way you say that, the corpse wasn't wearing it."

I nod.

Casts were born from name tags.

And if the regular staff turned into mascot costumes like that—how would their head, the director, change?

I'm thinking, wouldn't he become the boss of the floor?

No, perhaps it's the other way around.

"And in Tsumori san's hand, a folded paper clover, supposedly made by Hiiro san, was clutched."

"Hiiro was at the director's place?"

"It seems the director was looking out for Hiiro san after you died, Inoue san, so I think they were close."

"Then the one who brought Tsumori, who collapsed outside the office, into the building was Inoue Hiiro."

"She might have made him hold the clover at that time."

"Because that's a charm... I wonder if she tried to cheer him up so Tsumori san wouldn't die."

"But, how does that connect to the name tag going missing from there?"

"The reason Tsumori san would give the name tag to Hiiro san... Did Tsumori san give it, or did Hiiro san want it..."

What comes to mind is the letter in the office's reference room.

In that text addressed to Tsumori san from Hiiro san, it should have said, "I want to work at the amusement park in the future," "I want to be the director."

"Hiiro san's future dream was to be the director of the amusement park. Tsumori san knew that, so at the very end—"

"Are you saying he made Hiiro's dream come true, even if only in form?"

I can only think of that as the reason to hand over the name tag.

Right, that's why Inoue Hiiro became the "director," the boss of the Casts—no, which came first? I still don't know.

But if the Hole-Men and Casts were born due to Hiiro san's trauma, then while Kaigyo couldn't reference that trauma, different monsters should have been rampaging here.

The one who knows that is—

"Akabane san, you said you guided the guests because monsters appeared, but what you saw back then were Hole-Men and Casts?"

"No, there were zombies like the ones you see in horror movies, and rotting dogs. Also, I think there were green dwarves, and flabby creatures that eat people."

They are Zombies, Zombie Wolves, Goblins, and Eaters respectively.

As I thought, at first it was in a state similar to the 1st floor.

"Do you have memories of seeing such monsters, Inoue san?"

"I only know of the Hole-Men and Casts."

"Then you came back to life, Inoue san..."

"After those mascot costumes were born, or at the same time."

I sort out the timeline in my head.

First, Tsumori san was shot by someone.

And Hiiro san found him injured and collapsed, and carried him to the office.

Despite making him hold the clover and desperately calling out to him, Tsumori san handed his name tag to Hiiro san and breathed his last.

After that, Hiiro san was chosen as the master of the floor as the "director," and the Hole-Men and Casts were born.

At almost the same timing, Inoue Yoshino was also resurrected.

Yeah, this connects it all.

Now, if only we knew the beginning and the end, everything would be solved.

No, even if it's solved, it's meaningless if we can't escape from here, I guess.

"For now, the Casts are sparsely deployed throughout the amusement park. If it were me, I would prepare a somewhat concentrated fighting force in my own camp to protect myself."

"Does that mean there's a massive amount of Casts we haven't encountered yet somewhere?"

"No... there aren't that many staff members. I don't know how often you encounter them if you go outside, but judging from inside the restaurant, if they are deployed at that density, almost all the staff must be out and about."

"While not the Casts, shouldn't there be a facility with a concentrated fighting force?"

"The hotel."

"Umu, exactly right, Erika. Despite having a large fighting force and the favorable condition of not being hindered by the Casts, they show no signs of trying to find a way to escape this floor. In fact, they even went out of their way to interfere with Inoue. Honestly, I do not understand what their goal is."

"How does that relate to Hiiro?"

"The teachers firmly believe the ritual was a success and Giraiguu has descended."

"If they encountered an entity with incredible power like a floor master at a time like that... if it were Ooki, she'd likely believe it was God."

"Above all, they are the kind of people whose insides have been replaced by monsters before they knew it. I would not be surprised if they were unconsciously being used as shields for monsters."

They themselves act with the intention of living as humans.

But in reality, they have long since been controlled by Kaigyo, being utilized to protect the master.

Thinking that they are staying on this floor where God is—of their own free will.

If that were true, it would be wonderful.

If Inoue Hiiro desired that, it would be even more wonderful.

The fact that they look down on others and get carried away, while in reality they are being manipulated more pitifully than anyone else, is especially wonderful!

"You have my older brother's face, Erika."

"You call it that even when I'm smiling."

"I understand the feeling of making that face, though. However, either way, what we must do remains unchanged."

"Killing two birds with one stone. I was planning to crush them anyway."

"Yes, if Hiiro is there, the reason not to do it is completely gone. We will win no matter what, and get back the hostages and Hiiro."

Get back, huh.

Honestly, I don't think Hiiro san was taken away by force, though.

But it's a good thing our goals have been completely narrowed down to one.

Towards achieving that, we headed outside the restaurant.

In order to level up through "Cast Hunting."