Chapter Thirteen ...to the Diaphragm

"Don't worry, everyone! At least we're definitely higher up than we were before!" Facing the gloomy atmosphere, Nijika tried to encourage everyone, but it didn't work very well.

"Wu-la A-Dream, give us a bamboo-copter~" Kita was already so dejected over her plan falling through that she was starting to lose it.

Shiko awkwardly pushed Kita off herself and looked upward. The hole blasted open by the previous "grapevine" was rapidly repairing itself, just like what they had seen in the esophagus. However, it was clear that there was still space beyond the ceiling of the hole. This layer's ceiling probably corresponded to the diaphragm. Looking around at their surroundings—the pitch-black ground, the completely empty space, and the neither-high-nor-low ceiling—this place seemed more spacious than the cramped vertebrae before. If she ignored the black mist that occasionally rose from the floor, Shiko, who had spent so long as a shut-in, could even feel a trace of freedom.

Then she looked at Ichiri—oh. The moment she saw her expression, Shiko felt a connection. Maybe we should stay here for a while...

"No way!" Nijika shattered Shiko's comfortable fantasy with a single blow. "Miss Marina is still waiting for us! Everyone, hurry up and think of a solution!"

"Let's take a bath first. We're all covered in dust!" Kita suggested.

"Huh? A bath? Here?" Ichiri shrank back, clutching her coat tightly as her head shook at the speed of a high-frequency strobe light. "No, no, no, no, no..."

Shiko's expression also turned slightly awkward. Although they were all girls, washing together without even drawing a curtain was one thing. The fact that they were all her favorites made it even more...

Unless the others took their clothes off first.

"Well, if it's safe, taking a bath is fine." Ryo glanced around. Seeing no danger, she turned to Shiko. "Little Shiko, give us a few iron buckets." Then she turned to Ichiri. "Bocchi should be fine soaking in an iron bucket, right? That way, nobody will be able to see anything."

Ichiri still shook her head.

"Then the rest of us can soak for a bit." Ryo didn't seem to care either way. Shiko silently lamented the loss in her heart, then waved her hand and created four iron buckets large enough for one person each, filled them with water, and placed charcoal beneath them. However, before Kita could light the charcoal, the buckets rapidly turned black and then shattered into nothingness.

"Huh?" Shiko tried several more times, but the result was the same. Even the soles of their own shoes had unknowingly begun turning black, forcing them to replace them frequently.

In the end, although Kita wore an irritated look and occasionally sniffed her armpits, they had no choice but to remain in their filthy state and continue considering how to escape. After talking for ages, they still had to rely on Shiko. After all, she was the only one who could create solid objects for people to stand on, though that didn't seem very useful anymore.

"Please, our hero." Ryo placed great hopes on Shiko.

As she said this, Ryo gnawed on a piece of bread, looking as punchable as ever. Kita couldn't sit still and had long since dragged Nijika off to explore elsewhere. Ichiri had nowhere else to go, so she stayed here and practiced guitar.

"By the way, is it really okay for us to split up?" Based on horror-movie experience, splitting up the team was usually a clever way to get everyone killed. Looking toward the direction Kita and Nijika had gone, Shiko hesitated over whether to call them back.

"I trust Nijika." Ryo was brimming with confidence. Hearing that, Shiko stopped worrying about the others and focused peacefully on the task assigned to her.

Despite the iron-bucket fiasco, she tried creating a staircase on the ground. She had imagined gray stone, but once it was made, she saw the stone steps rapidly turn black. Before long, they disappeared just as they had in the esophagus. Although she had expected it, Shiko still felt annoyed.

"Why not try making a copper pillar and have me hit it upward?" Ryo came over just then. Shiko nodded and tossed a copper pillar into midair. Ryo plucked the strings with all her strength, producing a thunderous boom. The pillar flew upward, but it fell into the abyss without even reaching the ceiling. Several seconds later, the three of them finally heard a rumbling crash from below.

"What happened..." Nijika and Kita hurried back, only to see Shiko slap her forehead, as though she had thought of some brilliant idea.

"Have you two read a science-fiction novel written by Verne called From the Earth to the Moon?" Shiko wasn't disappointed by her earlier failure. Instead, she had been inspired.

"Huh?"

Shiko's eyes shone as she began explaining her idea in detail.

"...In short, you want to build a giant cannon, stuff us inside a shell, and blast us upward?" After hearing Shiko's passionate grand plan, Nijika began to question her entire worldview.

Shiko's plan was to build a human cannon on the platform, pointing straight at the zenith, hollow out the shell, put the five of them inside, and use gunpowder to send everyone above the diaphragm.

Shiko Barbicane was immersed in her fantasy. "My creations can only maintain their existence here for a short while. Conventional methods can no longer get us out, but a cannon can! The cannon doesn't need to fire a second time. As long as it can send us skyward during that brief period of existence, it'll be fine! Friends, let's conduct a little experiment!"

"It really can send us skyward!" Nijika shook Shiko by the shoulders. "Wake up, Little Shiko! Bocchi, you talk some sense into her too—"

Ichiri also felt that the plan was far too absurd and tried to speak up. "Um..." Before she could finish, Shiko, who was burning with enthusiasm, interrupted her. "Ichiri, come with me and become my Michel Ardan!"

Ichiri knew the character Michel Ardan. In From the Earth to the Moon, he had volunteered to sit inside the shell and was an energetic, extroverted character!

If I support Shiko, can I become extroverted too?!

"Ehehehehehe..." Ichiri began giggling foolishly where she stood.

She was beyond saving. Nijika looked at Kita pleadingly. Kita was, of course, still a normal person, but when both Shiko and Ichiri looked at her pitifully, she quickly abandoned reason. "I abstain... At least... why don't we conduct some experiments first?"

She had compromised! Nijika sank into despair. She had already stopped considering the remaining person.

"I object." It was Ryo's calm voice! Nijika turned toward Ryo. Her usually unreliable friend had given her such a pleasant surprise at this crucial moment! Tears filled her eyes as she grasped Ryo's warm hands.

"This is way too rock and roll!" Ryo's gaze was resolute.

Two in favor, two opposed, and one abstention—the proposal was temporarily shelved. While the others thought, Shiko pulled Ryo aside, mysteriously took a stack of papers from her bag, and handed them over. "What's this?" Ryo accepted them and saw the large words Verne Collection on the cover.

"Before coming here, I photocopied several books from the lounge to pass the time." Shiko was full of confidence.

After a while, Ryo returned to the group and loudly announced, "I support Shiko's proposal."

"Huh?" Nijika couldn't believe it.

"This is way too rock and roll!" That was Ryo's reason.

"That's the same reason as before—" But Nijika could no longer stop any of this. Shiko Barbicane enthusiastically welcomed Ichiri Ardan and Captain Yamada's joining, and the three of them eagerly discussed the details of the experiment.

Nijika and Kita crouched off to the side and began recalling their short yet incredibly fulfilling lives. The discussion among the three introverts beside them grew increasingly heated, while the two extroverts could only remain silent.

"Hey, do introverts all become like this when they go crazy?" Nijika sighed.

"Ijichi-senpai, I don't think this has anything to do with being extroverted or introverted..." Kita began to feel somewhat guilty about abstaining.

At last, they entered the official discussion stage. Nijika and Kita accepted reality and worked hard on the executive committee, aiming to survive successfully. Incidentally, although Shiko claimed the title of Chairman Barbicane, who was the executive committee chairman in From the Earth to the Moon, she knew perfectly well that she had no leadership ability, so Nijika remained the executive committee chairwoman.

The five sat around a round table. Since they had gone so long without eating, a mountain of sandwiches and a sea of tea had already been set out on the table.

Incidentally, the round table could not be maintained for long. Shiko had to refresh the scene every few minutes.

"First of all, Little Shiko, do you understand the structure of a cannon?" Nijika crossed her hands on the tabletop, covering the lower half of her face, and questioned Shiko sharply.

"No." Shiko answered very crisply.

Everyone looked at Shiko's face with the same expression.

However, Shiko slapped the table and declared passionately, "We have plenty of time to experiment. Trust me, dear chairwoman. There's nothing two extroverts and three introverts can't accomplish!" Her inexplicable passion had yet to fade.

Nijika propped up her cheek and asked casually, "Fine, then. Do you know how to make gunpowder?"

"I know this." Shiko's answer exceeded Nijika's expectations.

"Some magazines in the CiRCLE lounge described the general methods for making several simple kinds of gunpowder. I conducted experiments, and I can now generate gunpowder directly. Its safety can also be guaranteed." Shiko spread one hand. A small paper packet filled with various kinds of gunpowder lay in her palm.

Nijika recalled that Shiko did occasionally manage to get herself into inexplicable messes before eventually coming to her for treatment. Remembering that, Nijika's tone softened at once. She gradually became serious and began discussing the cannon's structure and other matters.

Step by step, they settled on their initial plan.

Chapter Thirteen ...to the Diaphragm

Whatever they finalized in the meeting still had to be verified through experiments. Fortunately, there was plenty of open ground here, and the ground repaired itself.

"Shouldn't we draw a few diagrams of the cannon's structure first?" Nijika asked.

"It'd be better to start experimenting directly. None of us knows much about this anyway, so we might as well find the answers through practice." Shiko had already begun laying out a plan on the ground.

"But it would still be better to measure some data first." Kita somehow produced a pair of plain glasses and a white lab coat and put them on with great seriousness. "Although we don't have a ruler, we can use our heights as units to estimate the distance from here to the ceiling. I'm 158 centimeters tall."

Shiko understood. She had Kita stand straight, then caused a stone pillar to grow out of the ground beside Kita's feet until it reached the top of her head. Thus, they obtained a rough measuring stick. Before the stone pillar disappeared, Shiko repeatedly copied it upward until the measuring stick touched the ceiling.

"The height is..." Shiko watched the stone pillar naturally crumble away and estimated in her mind. "About ninety meters."

"Leave the calculations to me!" Kita pushed up her glasses. "Give me a few sheets of paper!"

"Oh! I'm counting on you, Dr. Kita!"

Dr. Kita confidently wrote down the height they had just measured. Then, after hesitating for a long while, she raised her head and asked, "What formulas do we need again?"

"Take off the lab coat." Nijika deadpanned.

Through everyone's combined efforts, they managed to settle on a preliminary design for the barrel. However, they still needed to conduct experiments to collect data.

Shiko created a plot of land in the distance from thin air. She spared no materials, laid down a foundation, cast a cannon barrel according to her imagination, and tried loading gunpowder. However, she was inexperienced, and during the first attempt, the entire cannon collapsed before she could even finish loading the gunpowder. Nijika was the first to comfort her. After several more attempts, Shiko finally mastered a method for making the entire gunpowder-loaded cannon take shape in an instant.

However, this was only the beginning. A cannon built entirely from a layperson's imagination obviously couldn't be used as-is. Shiko first had to test it with solid cannonballs.

After a brief test, the first real test began.

"Careful!" A sound wall rose and canceled out the shock wave. The cannon exploded as soon as the cannonball was loaded. Fortunately, Ryo was watching from the side. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

During the tests that followed, everyone stood farther away.

The cannon exploded.

The cannon exploded.

The cannon exploded.

"Ha..." After the umpteenth explosion, Shiko let out a deep sigh.

Even with Nijika's help, Shiko began to tire after countless failures. Her passion was fading as well.

The draft paper was covered in countless abandoned designs. Several sheets fell to the ground and were quickly polluted by blackness, turning into powder. Was it too naive for a layperson to try something like this? That thought began to surface. Of course, she wasn't going to give up over such a minor failure. Besides, this was her proposal. She could never bring herself to say, "It's impossible." But Nijika could also see the faint gloom in Shiko's heart.

"The cannonball loading is fine now, but the gun carriage still needs reinforcement. Look, you can add a structure like this..." Nijika knew empty encouragement couldn't comfort Shiko. She could only do her best to assist with the experiments. That was what a companion was supposed to do. Kita was in charge of lighting the fuse and also offered more suggestions in that area. With everyone's encouragement, Shiko gradually regained her courage.

"Yeah, I think I'm starting to understand how to do this."

Build, light the fuse, explode. The five of them almost grew used to the process.

As time passed, the five's clothes gradually turned the same black as the ground, starting from their shoe soles. It was only their clothes for now, but what would happen if the blackness spread to their flesh? Regardless, they no longer had time to abandon this plan and search for another one.

"This time, there shouldn't be any problems, right?" After changing the design hundreds and thousands of times—from the barrel's length and thickness to the type and loading of the gunpowder—Shiko felt that there were no longer any flaws.

"Stand back. I'm lighting the fuse." This time, Kita felt better than ever. After countless repetitions, the distribution of the gunpowder and the direction in which she lit it had become muscle memory. For some reason, she simply felt—

She lit the fuse.

As the cannon's form shattered, they saw the cannonball's afterimage pierce through the void amid the thick smoke.

This was the first successful cannonball.

Even complete amateurs could build a usable cannon if they worked hard enough!

Kita excitedly pounced on Shiko. Shiko was too excited to feel embarrassed and widened her eyes, waving her hands as she repeated, "We did it!" "We did it!" to everyone. Ichiri was happy too, but since she hadn't contributed much, she didn't dare join the cheering. She only stood to the side with Ryo.

"What's there to celebrate? We still have to redesign the cannonball, test its safety, and do plenty more." Ryo was considerably calmer than the others.

"All right, Ryo, it's fine to celebrate a little!" Nijika stuffed a lollipop into her mouth.

Riding on their momentum, the group began designing the cannonball.

The cannonball would naturally be conical. There was no room for debate. However, they needed to carefully research its exact size, structure, the five people's positions inside it, and the safety measures.

The five sat around the round table. A fresh mountain of sandwiches and a sea of tea had been placed on it.

"Can we still find the position of the cannonball we fired earlier?" Nijika asked first.

Shiko shook her head. "It pierced the diaphragm and is already stuck above it. We can't see anything about its specific condition."

"Then we have a problem. If we fire a suitable cannonball, how do we confirm what happens to it after launch?"

"I can try something for that." Everyone's eyes focused on Ryo. She lifted her bass and plucked out a small sphere made entirely of transformed sound waves. "This ball can be put inside the cannonball to record its condition and send the information back before the hole made by the cannonball is repaired."

Thus, the problem of observing the experimental results was solved, and everyone moved on to the next topic: how to protect the people inside the cannonball.

"From the Earth to the Moon solved this problem by using water as a cushioning device. Although my ability can also provide cushioning, it'll be difficult to verify that during the experiment." Ryo spoke first. Because of her ability, she had the most authority on this subject.

"We can stuff sponges along the inner wall of the cannonball." Shiko was also the team's cushioning expert. After one success, she had recovered her initial passion and was wholeheartedly pushing forward with her ascent-to-the-sky project.

In this state, they settled on the first version of the cannonball's structure. Shiko immediately created a sample, and the five climbed inside. It was completely uncomfortable, but considering that two people on the team were sensitive to physical contact, the interior was still large enough to avoid everyone being crammed together. All five were secured to the walls with sleeping-bag-like devices, while Ryo was given enough room to use her bass. The walls were packed with sponges, and the bottom contained a cushioning structure made of alternating wooden boards and water that everyone thought might work. All that remained was the official test.

The official test used a dummy made of pork. The first test ended with the cannon exploding. Because the cannonball's shape and weight had changed, they had to try several more times before the cannonball finally rose into the air.

"The cannonball completely exploded." That was Ryo's report.

Failure after failure.

Continue.

When their pant legs turned black, they tore them off and replaced them with new ones. But this was only a temporary solution. Shiko's head began to grow dizzy from time to time. As the core of the plan, she had to rely on Nijika to keep her conscious. Fortunately, before reaching their limit, they barely found a workable version of the plan.

"Hurry! We're out of time!" The moment loading was complete, the group hurriedly crawled into the cannonball.

"I never thought we'd really be able to leave this place using this method." Nijika couldn't help sighing as she officially stuffed herself into the sleeping bag.

"I said there was nothing two extroverts and three introverts couldn't accomplish." Shiko performed the final inspection.

Ryo and Ichiri were already prepared. They were responsible for providing the final safety measure for the cushioning.

"There isn't much time." Although they had conducted countless experiments, now that the moment had truly arrived, Shiko still felt intensely nervous. "Li—"

Under the immense pressure, she found it difficult to issue the command to light the fuse.

As the one responsible for starting the fire, Kita voluntarily took on the burden. "Get ready. Three, two..."