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原稿（第3页）

Rememberingamoviesheoncesawwhereoneofthecharactershadaspinningtoptotestwhetheritsadream，Hitomidecidedtogooutside，outofthecave.Shehysicsteacherintraining，andiftherefraindexofwaterwasanydifferentfromtheordinary，shewouldknow，providedthatshewouldntfethergoalacarriedawaybybeinginacrazydream.

“Hi，ugh...”

Hitomididntknowanybody’sname，andnotwantingtoappearrude，shetriedtotalktooneofthestaffwithhersoft，gentlevoiottheoneforquietingaGrade8sceclassroom），“sorryifI’minterruptingyourwork，butmayIgooutsidetorelaxforawhile，please?”

“Kagami，otherswanttogooutsideatagethree，andyoufinallywanttogowhenyouarealmostsix...”

smiledthestaff.

（“Okay，apparentlyIamfiveatthepresentmoment”

，thoughtHitomi）“So，mayI?”

“No，notyet.Soon，though.Thetestisihanamonth.”

（“There’satestfoingoutside?!”

Hitomishoutedindisbeliefinsideherself.）“Couldyoupleasebesokindastorefreshmymemoryonthewholeissue?”

“Kagami，...youusuallydon’ttalkmuch，butwhatyoujustsaid...Nooneevertalkslikethathere...Howdidyou...”

Thedaycarestafflookedbothedanddeeplysuspicious.

（“Gagh!Ifottotalklikeachild!”

）Hitomiwasalmostcertainbythispointthatitwasnotanordinarydream.Shehasnevergottenintroublefortalkingprofessionallyinadreambefore，andholy，shehadnoinklingonhowtogetoutofthepresentawkwardness.“Well，I...well，...Idon’tknow...Idon’tknowatallwhat’sgoingon”

Hitomistuttered.Thankfullythedaycarestaffdidn’thavetheluxuryofleisuretimeonherhand，andhadtohelpi.Hitomibreathedasighofrelief，（“untilthefauxpas...Igettoliveforalittlewhilelonger.Whoknowswhattheywoulddowithmeiftheyfoundout...Idontevenknowwhattheycouldfindout，sinceIdontknowwhatsgoingon，buttheycouldrealizeIamnottherealKagami.”

）

（“Well，it’sdecided.Adreamornot，IwouldliketonotgetintroublelikeIdidjustnow.”

）Hitomimadearesolutiontoherself，（“EventhoughthisKagamiseemstobejustwaitingformetoeandassumeheridentity，withalltheGoudathatnobodyhereuands，Iamnotgoingtogamblewithmyluck.Iwillstaylow，listencarefully，keepquiet，andsourformationfromothers’versations.UntilIwakeupagain，IamKagami，agefivepresently，whodoesn’ttalkmuch.Atleastthatsablessing，IdonthavetotrytoimitatehowsomeoneIvenevermetwouldtalk，becauseshedoesnttalkmuch.Idothat.”

）

Ittookawhile，butafterthemealrotationhadefullcircletwiceforbreakfast，andshehadarrivednaturallyatjustcallingit“hardyellowcheese”

insteadof“threeyearGouda”

，（notthatedugpeoplewholiveinacaveonthedistaweeownsofGoudaandEdamhadeverbeenahighpriorityanyway，）Kagami--shewasfortablewiththatnamenow--hadetotermswiththefactthatshewouldNOTjustonedaywakeupandbeinherapartmentagain.Thiswasthenewnorm.Shewasinadifferentworldnow.

Aworldwherechildrenhavetoliveinacaveuntiltheagesix.Kagamiheardsomedaycarestaffexplaiuationtosomethree-year-olds.

“It’sdangerousoutthereforyou.Youknowwhatearthis，thisdirtthing，andwind，likefromthisfan，andwateryouknowthatwedrinkandwashwith，andfire，fhta，andthesearecalledtheelements.Yesthat’sabigword，butdon’tworry.Well，yousee，sometimesyouseedustintheair，andothertimesyouseealittlebugflyby.Theoutsidehastih，wind，water，andfireflyingintheairlikedustorlittlebugs，andyourbodyistooyoung.Theelementswillgocrazyinyourbodyandyouwillgethurtveryverybadly，andtherewillbelotsofblood...”

（“That’sagooddaycarestaff”

，）thoughtKagami，（“explainingmagicalelementstothreeyearoldchildren.”

）Kagamikeptlistening，stayingquietandstillinthebackgroundsoasnottobenoticed.

“Whenbigpeople，adults，givebirthtobabies，themother’slove，theessence，keepsthebabysafefromtheelementsforthreedays.Duringthosethreedays，babiesarequicklybroughttothesespecialcaveswheretheshinyrocksinthewall，wecallthemcrystals，helptokeepyousafe.”

（“Idon’tthinkthechildrenarelisteninganymore”

，）thoughtKagami，seeingthechildren’seyeswander.

“SoIgooutsidenow?”

（yup.）

Bylisteningtoversationshereandthere，Kagamimoreorlessfiguredoutthelargerpictureeventually.Whenchildrenturnsix，theyaregiventhefirstinstruonhowtosurviveoutside.Thereisamagicmatrixatthemouthofthecave，andinstructorsfromsomeacademieswillgivedemonstrationsonhowtoutilizethematrix，withproperfootworkandbodymovements，ttheelementsintoone’sbodyinatrolledmanner.

Ifasuccessisachieved，thenthechildbeeastudentinoneoftheacademies.Oncegraduated，suffitpreparationhasbeenmadeforthispersontoliveisideworld.Oherhand，ifachildisnotsuccessfulinutilizingthematrixtobeabletobreatheoutsideair，anotheryearhastobewaitedbeforeoneattemptagain.

Ifbyageeighteenoneisstilluoreinintheelements，suchapersonhastobeeadaycarestaffinthecave.Thishasbeenthewaytheworldoperatedsiimeimmemorial，andpeoplearequitetenteveniftheyarespendingtherestoftheiryearsincaves.

（“NowohatIwastoldthatinashortwhiletherewouldbeatestfoingoutside.Thebatchof，wellwhoknowswhat’stheyearinthisworld，aretakingtheirfirstgradeentranceexam.”