Why play in a band if not for life?

"It's okay, everyone! At least we're higher up than we were a moment ago!" Nijika tried to lift everyone's spirits, but it wasn't very effective.

"Doraemon, give me a 'Take-copter'~" Kita was quite dejected now that her plan had fallen through.

Shiko awkwardly pushed Kita away from her and looked up. The hole that the "grapevine" had made earlier was quickly recovering, just like what they had seen in the esophagus. However, she was sure there was space above that ceiling; this layer of ceiling likely corresponded to the diaphragm. Looking around the environment, the ground was pitch black, the space was empty, and the ceiling was neither too high nor too low. Compared to the narrow spine they were in before, this place felt more spacious. If she ignored the black mist occasionally rising from the floor, Shiko, a long-time shut-in, could even feel a sense of freedom.

Looking at Ichiri—oh, seeing her eyes, Shiko felt a resonance. "Let's 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, quickly think of a way!"

"Let's take a bath first, everyone's covered in dust!" Kita suggested.

"Huh? A bath? Here?" Ichiri flinched, clutching her jacket tightly, her head shaking at the speed of a high-frequency flasher. "No, no, no, no, no..."

Shiko's expression also turned a bit sour. Even though they were all girls, bathing together without even a curtain, not to mention they were all her oshis, it was...

Unless the others undressed first.

"Ah, if it's safe, a bath is fine." Nijika glanced around, finding no danger, then turned to Shiko. "Little Shiko, give me some iron buckets." She then turned to Ichiri, "Little Bocchi should be fine soaking in an iron bucket, right? That way, no one will see anything."

Ichiri still shook her head.

"Then let's a few of us soak." Ryo was indifferent. Shiko inwardly lamented for a moment, then waved her hand, conjuring four iron buckets that could hold one person each, filled with water, with charcoal fires prepared underneath. However, before Kita could even light the fire, the buckets' surfaces quickly turned black and then shattered into nothingness.

"Huh?" Shiko tried a few more times, but the result was the same. Even the soles of their own shoes had started to turn black without them noticing, requiring frequent replacements.

In the end, despite Kita's displeased expression and her occasional sniffing of her armpits, they could only remain dirty and continue to ponder an escape method. After all the discussion, it still came down to Shiko. After all, among everyone, only she had the ability to create solid objects that people could stand on, though it seemed to be of little use now.

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

As she said this, Ryo was chewing on bread, looking incredibly annoying. Kita, unable to sit still, had already dragged Nijika off to explore elsewhere. Ichiri had nowhere to go and stayed put, practicing her guitar.

"Speaking of which, is it really okay for us to split up?" Based on horror movie experience, splitting the team was usually a surefire way to get wiped out. Shiko looked in the direction Kita and Nijika had left, hesitating whether to call them back.

"I trust Nijika." Ryo was full of confidence. Hearing this, Shiko stopped worrying about them and calmly considered the task assigned to her.

Despite the precedent of the iron buckets, she still tried to create stairs on the ground. She envisioned gray rock in her mind, but after creating them, she saw the stone steps quickly turn black. Before long, the steps disappeared, just like they had in the esophagus. Although she had expected it, Shiko was still displeased.

"How about trying again? You create a copper pillar, and I'll hit it up?" Ryo came over. Shiko nodded and conjured a copper pillar in mid-air. Ryo strummed her guitar with all her might, and a loud bang echoed in the air. The copper pillar flew upwards but fell into the abyss without even touching the ceiling. A few seconds later, the three of them heard a rumbling sound from below.

"What happened..." Nijika and Kita rushed back, seeing Shiko tap her forehead, seemingly having a brilliant idea.

"Have any of you read the science fiction novel From the Earth to the Moon by Verne?" Shiko wasn't disappointed by the previous failure; instead, she was inspired.

"Huh?"

Shiko's eyes gleamed as she explained her idea in detail.

"...Simply put, you want to build a cannon, stuff us into a cannonball, and blast us up?" After listening to Shiko's passionate grand plan, Nijika began to question her worldview.

Shiko's plan was to build a giant cannon on the platform, directly aimed at the ceiling, hollow out the cannonball, and have the five of them sit inside, using gunpowder to send them all above the diaphragm.

Shiko Barbicane was lost in her fantasy. "My creations can only exist here for a short while. Conventional methods can no longer get us out, but a cannon can! This cannon doesn't need to be fired a second time; it just needs to send us up during the brief moment it exists! Friends, let's conduct a small experiment!"

"It'll definitely send us up!" Nijika shook Shiko's shoulders. "Wake up, Little Shiko! Little Bocchi, you talk to her too—"

Ichiri also found the plan too outrageous and tried to help. "This..." Before she could finish, Shiko, caught up in her fervor, interrupted her. "Ichiri, come with me and be my Michel Ardan!"

Ichiri knew the character of Michel Ardan. In From the Earth to the Moon, he voluntarily got into the cannonball and was a lively, extroverted character!

If she supported Shiko, could she become extroverted too!

"Ehehehehehe..." Ichiri started giggling foolishly on the spot.

Hopeless. Nijika looked at Kita for help. Kita was still rational, but when both Shiko and Ichiri looked at her with pleading eyes, she quickly abandoned reason. "I abstain... At least... let's do the experiment first?"

Compromised! Nijika fell into despair. She didn't even consider the remaining person...

"I object." It was Ryo's calm voice! Nijika turned to Ryo, her usually unreliable friend, and how surprised she was at this critical moment! Tears welled up in her eyes, and she clasped Ryo's warm hands.

"This is so rock 'n' roll!" Ryo's gaze was resolute.

Two for, two against, one abstention. The proposal was temporarily shelved. While the others were thinking, Shiko pulled Ryo aside and mysteriously took out a stack of papers from her bag, handing them to Ryo. "What's this?" Ryo took it and saw the large words "Verne Collection" on the cover.

"Before we came, I made copies of some books from the lounge to pass the time." Shiko said with a confident look.

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

"Huh?" Nijika couldn't believe it.

"This is so rock 'n' roll!" That was Ryo's reason.

"That's the same reason as before—" However, Nijika could no longer stop it. Shiko Barbicane enthusiastically welcomed Ichiri Ardan and Captain Yamada to join, and the three eagerly discussed the experimental details.

Nijika and Kita squatted to the side, recalling their short but incredibly fulfilling lives. The discussion between the three introverts became increasingly heated, while the two extroverts on the side remained silent.

"So, are all introverts like this when they go crazy?" Nijika sighed.

"Ijichi-senpai, I don't think this has anything to do with being an introvert or an extrovert..." Kita began to feel a little guilty about abstaining.

Finally, it was time for formal discussions. Nijika and Kita accepted reality and worked hard on the executive committee with the goal of surviving. Incidentally, although Shiko called herself Chairman Barbicane, who was the chairman of the executive committee in From the Earth to the Moon, she knew she had no leadership ability whatsoever, so Nijika remained the chairman of the executive committee.

The five sat around the round table. Considering they hadn't eaten for a long time, a mountain of sandwiches and a tea set were already piled on the table.

By the way, the round table didn't last long; Shiko needed to refresh the scene every few minutes.

"First, Little Shiko, do you understand the structure of a cannon?" Nijika crossed her arms, resting them on the tabletop, obscuring the lower half of her face, and asked Shiko sharply.

"I don't know." Shiko answered curtly.

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

However, Shiko slammed the table and exclaimed with surging passion, "There's plenty of time for experiments anyway. Believe me, dear chairman, there's nothing two yang corners and three yin corners can't do!" Her inexplicable passion had not yet subsided.

Nijika, resting her chin on her hand, casually asked, "Alright, then do you know how to make gunpowder?"

"I know that," Shiko replied, which exceeded Nijika's expectations.

"There were several simple gunpowder recipes written in a magazine in the CiRCLE lounge. I've experimented with them, and I can now directly produce gunpowder, and its safety can be guaranteed." Shiko spread her hand, and in her palm was a small paper packet filled with various kinds of gunpowder.

Nijika remembered that Shiko sometimes inexplicably got herself into trouble and then came to her for healing. Thinking of this, Nijika's tone softened. She gradually became serious, discussing the structure of the cannon and other topics.

Step by step, they finalized their initial plan.

Chapter 13 ...To the Diaphragm

Whatever was decided in the meeting still needed to be verified through experimentation. Fortunately, there was enough open space here, and the ground would self-repair.

"Shouldn't we draw some structural diagrams of the cannon first?" Nijika asked.

"It's better to start experimenting directly. Since none of us know much about this, we might as well find answers through practice." Shiko had already begun planning on the ground.

"But it's still better to measure some data first." Kita pulled out a pair of plain glasses and a white lab coat from somewhere, looking very serious. "Although there's no ruler, we can use our height as a unit to estimate the distance from here to the ceiling. My height is 158cm."

Shiko understood and had Kita stand straight. A section of stone pillar grew out of the ground from her feet, level with Kita's head, and thus they obtained a rough height scale. While the stone pillar hadn't disappeared yet, Shiko continuously duplicated it upwards until the ruler touched the ceiling.

"The height is..." Shiko watched the stone pillar naturally dissipate and estimated in her mind, "About 90m."

"Leave the calculations to me!" Kita pushed up her glasses. "Give me some paper!"

"Oh! It's all yours! Dr. Kita!"

Dr. Kita confidently wrote down the height she had just measured on the paper, then hesitated for a long time before looking up and asking, "What formulas do I need again?"

"Take off your lab coat," Nijika quipped.

With everyone's joint effort, the cannon barrel was at least finalized in a draft. But to collect data, experiments were still necessary.

Shiko outlined a piece of land in the distance, sparing no expense on materials, laid the foundation, cast a barrel according to her imagination, and attempted to load gunpowder. However, due to her inexperience, the first operation didn't even get to the stage of loading gunpowder before the entire cannon collapsed. It was Nijika who comforted her first. After multiple attempts, Shiko finally mastered the method of making the entire cannon body with loaded gunpowder take shape in an instant.

However, this was only the beginning. A cannon constructed entirely from the imagination of amateurs was certainly unusable. Shiko decided to test it with solid cannonballs first.

After a brief test, the first test began.

"Careful!" A sound barrier rose, canceling out the shockwave. The cannonball was immediately met with a burst barrel as soon as it was loaded. Fortunately, Ryo was nearby to watch, otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

In subsequent tests, everyone stood further away.

Burst barrel.

Burst barrel.

Burst barrel.

"Haa..." After the unknown nth burst barrel, Shiko sighed deeply.

Even with Nijika's help, after countless failures, Shiko began to feel exhausted. At the same time, her passion also faded.

The draft papers were already filled with countless failed designs. Several sheets fell to the ground, quickly becoming stained black and turning to dust. (Is it really too naive for amateurs to mess with this kind of thing?) She began to have such thoughts. Of course, she wouldn't give up because of such a small failure, especially since this was her proposal. It was extremely difficult for her to say "I can't do it." But Nijika could see the slight gloom in Shiko's heart.

"Loading the cannonballs is no longer a problem, but the cannon mount still needs reinforcement. See, we can add this kind of structure..." Nijika knew that empty encouragement wouldn't comfort Shiko. She could only do her best to assist her experiments, which is what a partner should do. Kita, responsible for ignition, also offered more suggestions in this regard. With everyone's encouragement, Shiko gradually regained her courage.

"Yeah, I think I kind of get how to do it now."

Construction, ignition, burst barrel. The five of them had almost gotten used to this process.

As time went on, starting from the soles of their shoes, the five people's clothes gradually became stained black like the ground. Now it was just their clothes. What would happen if the blackness spread to their flesh and blood? Regardless, there was no time to give up now and find other solutions.

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

"Stand further back, it's time to ignite." This time, Kita felt her condition was better than ever. After who knows how many repetitions, the distribution of gunpowder and the direction of ignition had become muscle memory. For some reason, she just felt—

Ignition.

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

This was the first successful cannonball.

Even pure amateurs, as long as they worked hard, could succeed in building a usable cannon!

Kita excitedly lunged at Shiko. Shiko, ignoring her shyness, widened her eyes, waved her hands, and repeatedly said to everyone, "It worked!" "It worked!" Ichiri, though also happy, didn't dare to join the cheering crowd because she hadn't been able to contribute much. She only dared to stand aside with Ryo.

"What's there to be happy about? We still have to redesign the cannonballs and test their safety. There's still a lot to do," Ryo was much calmer than the others.

"Alright, Ryo, it's good to be happy for a bit!" Nijika stuffed a lollipop into her mouth.

Seizing the momentum, the group began designing the cannonballs.

The shape of the cannonball was naturally conical, which was non-negotiable. However, the specific size, structure, their precise position within the cannonball, and safety measures all required careful study.

The five sat around the round table, where a new mountain of sandwiches and a tea set were piled up.

"Can we still find the location of the cannonball that was shot out earlier?" Nijika asked first.

Shiko shook her head. "It pierced the diaphragm and is still stuck there. We can't see its condition at all."

"Then there's a problem: if we launch a suitable cannonball, how do we confirm its situation after firing?"

"I can try that." All eyes turned to Ryo. She picked up her bass and played a small ball made entirely of materialized sound waves. "This ball can be placed inside the cannonball, record the cannonball's state, and transmit the information back before the hole made by the cannonball is repaired."

With the issue of observing the experiment's results settled, the group moved on to the next topic: how to ensure the safety of the personnel inside the projectile.

" From the Earth to the Moon solved this problem using water as a buffer device. While my abilities can also serve as a buffer, it's difficult to verify this during the experiment," Ryo spoke first, as she had the most say in this matter due to her abilities.

"We can stuff the inside of the projectile with sponge," Shiko, also an expert in buffering within the team, suggested. After one success, she had regained her initial passion and was wholeheartedly pursuing her grand ascent.

With this momentum, everyone finalized the structure of the first version of the projectile. Shiko immediately produced a sample, and the five of them squeezed inside. There was absolutely no comfort, but considering the sensitivity to physical contact of two people on the team, the internal space was sufficient, preventing them from being crammed together. All five were secured to the walls with sleeping bag-like devices, giving Ryo enough space to use her bass. The walls were lined with sponges, and at the bottom, there was a buffering structure combining wooden boards and water, which they believed could be useful. All that was left was the official test.

The official test used a dummy made of pork. The first test resulted in an explosion, and due to changes in the projectile's shape and mass, the group had to try several more times before the projectile finally launched.

"The projectile completely blew apart," was Ryo's report.

Failure after failure.

Continue.

When the pant legs got stained black, they were torn off and replaced with new ones. But this was just a temporary measure. Shiko's head began to feel dizzy from time to time. As the core of the plan, she had to rely on Nijika to stay awake. Fortunately, just before reaching their limit, they managed to find a workable solution.

"Quick! There's no time!" As soon as the loading was finished, the group scrambled into the projectile.

"I never thought we could actually leave this place using this method," Nijika couldn't help but sigh as she tucked herself into the sleeping bag.

"I told you, with two sunshines and three moonshines, there's nothing we can't do," Shiko said while performing the final checks.

Ryo and Ichiri were ready; they were responsible for the final insurance for the buffering.

"There's not much time." Even though they had conducted countless trials, Shiko still felt immense tension as the moment truly arrived. "Ign... "

Under the immense pressure, it was difficult for her to utter the command "ignite."

As the "ignition girl," Dr. Kita took over the responsibility: "Get ready, three, two..."