[HorridSubs] Puchi Pura Revival! - 02 [1080p HEVC 10bit AAC][1482EDC2].mkv

" Orenji

/ Defenestrate Me, Baby "

The end of school bell rings, and students begin filing out of the classrooms in an orderly manner.

Among the crowd a smiling Lotte hums to herself, as she skips down the hall toward the Flower Arrangement Club (Tentative) clubroom.

Once again, the halls of Umehara Middle School are suffused, as they have always been, in red and orange, the pre-twilight hues of a constant, eternal dusk which refuses to inch further toward night.

Lotte turns the corner, and skips past the school's bulletin board, which is covered in endless copies of the same poster, all with the same green-haired third-year student, her eyes scratched out in each poster.

MISSING - HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL?

"MIYANAMI MIDORI"

Now we're inside the traditional clubroom, with a direct view of the sliding door entrance.

We see the outline of Lotte's silhouette appears through the door's paper screen, as she approaches from the side.

She slides open the door with a loud Thwack!, and she raises an arm in greeting. Smiling wide, eyes closed, she lets out a cheerful, "YA-HHO!!!!"

But there is no response from within.

Lotte opens her eyes. Her smile fades.

The room is empty, once again.

She slips off her indoor slippers, and walks sock-clad onto the tatami.

Lotte kneels down on a cushion, at the kotatsu in the center of the room. She places her head down on the table, cheek against the surface.

She looks off to the side, at the thick kotatsu blanket folded neatly away against the wall.

"Wish it was winter again," she says, softly, to herself.

Then her eyes drift to the window, to the eternal dusk, the blood-orange sky.

"… I miss the stars. … I miss the night."

She turns again, placing her head face-down on the table.

"… I miss the day."

Suddenly: the sound of the door sliding open.

Lotte shoots up, turns to the entrance. "Ha, finally! Took you all long enou—"

She stops herself, once she sees the figure standing in the entrance.

"Oh," says Lotte. "… It's you."

The false Midori smiles innocently at Lotte from the doorway, her glass eyes unblinking.

"Hi, Lotte! Beautiful day out, isn't it?" chirps the straw effigy.

Lotte scoffs, looks away. "What's beautiful about it?"

"Aw, don't be like that, Lotte-chan!" says Midori (Fake), taking off her indoor slippers, shutting the door behind her.

The false Midori shuffles into the room on her straw-stuffed fabric legs, one limping ahead, the other dragging.

Pat, shfffft. Pat, shffffft. Pat, shffffft.

Lotte watches, disgusted.

With a grunt of effort ("Yoi-sho, tto,"), the straw doll grabs a cushion, and sits down on it, at the other end of the table opposite Lotte, with a sigh of relief. "… Ah, that's better."

The doll smiles at Lotte.

Lotte rolls her eyes, "… Whatever," as she begins taking out her notebooks from her bag, planting each on the table with a pointed Smack!

She takes out a mechanical pencil, flips open a page, and begins writing.

"… Whatcha doin'?" asks the false Midori, leaning over for a closer look.

"Homework. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Ehh?" exlaims Midori (Fake). "Already?! I thought the point of the Flower Arrangement Club (Tentative) was to have fun!"

"Actually," growls Lotte, "it's to arrange flowers."

"Hehe," chuckles the doll. "You sound like Tomo-chan. Oh, by the way, she said the funniest thing to me yesterday, did you know? We—"

"I don't care."

"Aww, don't be like that, Lotte-chan! Tomo-chan and I are good friends now, but she's still your friend, too! You're childhood friends, after all! That's a strong bond. Hey, we can all be best friends, together. Me, you, and Sana-chan, and Hana-chan …"

Lotte says nothing, face down in her homework, pencil scratching away angrily.

"Do you need some help?" asks Midori (Fake).

"Not from you."

"Eh? But Midori got an A on her test today!" The doll makes a double-peace, opening and closing her twin Vs like crab pincers. "It may not look like it, but I'm pretty smart, you know? In fact, even Hana-chan says I'm—"

Lotte slams her notebook closed.

"I. Don't. Care."

Lotte glares at the false Midori.

Silence, in the FAC(T) clubroom.

The false Midori's smile fades, her face grows severe. "… It's my legs, isn't it? I know, they're unsightly. You're disgusted by them."

Lotte doesn't respond.

The edges of the screen blur, as we're taken into Lotte and the doll's shared recollection.

In the flashback, we see a hallway, saturated in the same crimson-orange of the perpetual dusk, as Lotte makes her way to (or is it from?) class, a few days prior.

From behind her, she hears the false Midori call out.

"Lotte-chan!"

Lotte winces. Then, turns back.

The false Midori waves. "Are you heading to class, Lotte-chan? Let's go together!"

The doll begins limping forward.

Pat, shfffft. Pat, shffffft. Pat, shffffft.

Lotte watches the false Midori's unsteady gait, clear revulsion written on her face.

A few feet from Lotte, the false Midori's legs begin to wobble.

She falls, flat on her fabric-doll face.

Lotte stands there icily, looking down on the fallen effigy.

After a few seconds, two underclassmen rush in to help.

"Midori-chan, are you okay!?"

"Do you need to go to the nurse's office?"

The two underclassmen, propping Midori (Fake) up on either side, help to stand the doll up, and begin to escort her down the hallway.

Midori (Fake) shakes her head, and smiles warmly. "Mm-mm. That's okay. I'm fine. Thank you both very much!"

As the three pass by Lotte, still standing there, one underclassman glares at Lotte.

"… Why didn't you help her back up!"

"What's wrong with you, Lotte-senpai!?"

Lotte, caught off-guard, stammers, "I-I …"

"Shame on you," one of them says, shaking her head.

They pass by Lotte, and the two juniors help Midori (Fake) the rest of the way to class.

Back in the unblurred present, the false Midori, at the kotatsu table, smiles once again at Lotte. "It's okay if you hate me, Lotte-chan. I know I'm disgusting. That's okay."

Lotte grits her teeth. "I don't … hate … you. I … don't." Forcing herself through this last part: "You're not … disgusting."

The doll tilts her head again, mock-curiously. "Mm? Then what is it?" Then, as if coming to a sudden realization, clapping her hands together: "Ah! I know! You're jealous, aren't you?"

At the suggestion, Lotte balls her fists.

"You're jealous that I started the Floral Decoration Club (Definitive), right?" grins Midori (Fake). "That the others have been hanging out together there instead? Right? It's only natural to be envious, I suppose. The FDC(D) clubroom is much more spacious, after all."

Lotte bites her lip, struggling to keep it together.

"You're quite welcome to join us. The invitation still stands. Oh, we have so much fun in the club."

Lotte, trembling.

"Oh, wait," giggles Midori (Fake). "Is it—are you afraid you wouldn't fit in?"

No answer.

The doll makes the universal 'It Can't Be Helped' gesture, and says, "I guess it makes sense, after all. Because, you know, Lotte-chan—"

"Don't call me that."

"—you're the odd one out, aren't you?"

Lotte, knuckles whitening, her nails digging into her skin, on the cusp of drawing blood.

"Even your name. I mean, you're the only one with a foreign name. Are you sure you're even Japanese? It's—"

Thwack!!!!!

The door to the clubroom slides open, clattering loudly against the frame.

Lotte and the straw Midori turn their heads, to see Hanako, Sana and Tomoe standing at the entrance.

Lotte's face lights up, as she stands up and rushes toward her friends. "Guys! … Geez, took you long enough! Come on, I just got a new board game! O-or if you want, we can play RacerKart instead! I borrowed three more controllers, so we can—"

But she trails off, as she sees the looks on her friends' face, as they stand around awkwardly.

Hanako stammers, twiddling her fingers. "A-actually, Lotte-chan, w-we just came for Micchan … We've b-been waiting for h-her in the other c-clubroom … So …"

At Lotte's resulting crestfallen expression, Tomoe offers, "… But! But, I mean, we can hang out here for a bit, too … Haven't been here in a while, I suppose. Could be a nice change of pace."

Sana rolls her eyes. "Yeah, a boring one, maybe."

"Sana!" hisses Tomoe.

Lotte, perhaps a bit too desperately, insists, "It'll be fun, guys, I promise! I have—I have snacks. Baumkuchen! A-and purin! Hanako's favorite brand, too! It'll be like old times. Remember how much fun we used—we used to have? Before the …" Her eyes dart to the window. "… before the sun stopped … working."

Sana and the others look outside.

The eternal dusk stares back.

Nobody speaks for a long time.

"You know," says the straw Midori, after a long silence, "if something is too painful to look at …"

The former members of the FAC(T), and the one remaining member, turn to the doll.

The false Midori reaches up toward her glass eyes.

And they watch on, jaws slack, as the doll plucks them out, one after another, before setting them gently on the surface of the kotatsu.

"… Just don't look, silly!"

And the doll grins.

Two black, empty voids where her eyes used to be.