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'     Why can't I see; why can't I see... All the colors that you see?
       Please can I be; please can I be... Colorful and free?'

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[Primadonna 📺]

She watched blankly as Gumi cried loudly, rocking back and forth under the covers of her bed.

It was a good thing, Primadonna realized, that she allowed Gumi to stay home and sleep in for today. If she went to school and suddenly exploded in a depressive fit... That wouldn't be a pretty situation.

Primadonna nudged the child's shoulders, trying to get her attention. But Gumi just curled herself up tighter under her blankets, gripping the soft, white fabric even tighter then before.

Primadonna buzzed. She was annoyed. 《 Gumi, hey! Talk to me! >:(》Though, she was well aware that Gumi cannot see her words.

It took a whole minute of prodding and a couple of agitated noises from Primadonna before Gumi was finally forced up from bed. Primadonna then noticed that her eyes were red from crying, and the child herself looked like an absolute fucking mess.

《 Gumi. What's wrong? :-( 》

Gumi stared up at the Television-headed girl for a long moment. Then she sniffled, hugging herself tighter.

"I don't know! Everyone just hates me!" She bawled loudly. "Someone put chalk on my chair the other day, people laugh at me, and lots of my classmates like to push me around!"

《 . . . 》 Primadonna was left speechless--or rather, wordless. She had nothing she wanted to show on her screen.

"Why?" Gumi sniffled. "Why does everyone hate me? Did I do something wrong? What did I do wrong? Why am I weird? Why am I the only one in class being picked on?"

A long stream of questions. Yet, Primadonna couldn't find in herself the words to answer her. As much as she wanted to help the disabled child, she just couldn't. Because if there are things that Gumi doesn't know, then she damn doesn't know most of them either.

"Tell me," Gumi whispered, her eyes still moist with tears. Her sobs were far from done, but she seemed to have been able to calm herself slightly in order to ask this question. "Why am I different? Why am I gray... While everyone seems to be colorful?"

"Why... Why am I the odd one?"

Primadonna couldn't formulate a reply. Her heart broke as she stared at Gumi's tear-stained face, her green eyes wide as she stared at Primadonna, just waiting for a reply... And mentally, she berated herself for it. She was supposed to be here to lend Gumi the support she needs--To help the young child understand things, to lend comfort. But the personality she was crafted with did not seem to be any good with those tasks.

《 I don't know 》She wrote simply. She left out the emojis; because even if they conveyed emotion, they were often mistaken as a form of joke. And this--This was serious.

'I really don't know.' She bitterly added to herself in her head, feeling her own mood darken. What had she--They done to deserve this?