Chapter 23:
Puchi Pura Midori!
" Puchi Pura Midori!
/ Owaru Yo~~ "
The FAC(T) club members sit around the kotatsu, back in the clubroom.
Tomoe has just made fresh tea, and is pouring it into everyone's yunomi cups.
Hanako, head down in a doorstopper of a novel.
Sana's attention is focused on, yet again, a weird bug crawling on the tatami.
Lotte watches as Midori fingers the small paper card given to her by The Anomaly.
"Micchan, you kept that thing?" asks Lotte. "… I'd've thrown it away, I were you."
"Hmm …" says Midori. "He didn't seem like a bad guy. … Of course I couldn't understand anything he said. His voice was all weird and garbled. …"
She holds up the piece of paper, turns it upside-down, holds it up to the light, squints at it.
"… But I still don't know what this thing is," says Midori. "There's nothing on it, except a bunch of black squares. No writing or anything."
Tomoe, teapot in hand, having filled Midori's cup from behind, leans over and peers down at the card.
"Oh," says Tomoe, "that's a QR code."
Midori tilts her head. "Q … R?"
"Yeah, it's like … a barcode. You should be able to scan it with your phone. Usually it's a web link to something."
Midori's eyes widen, amazed. "Heee-eeeh … Is that so …"
Hanako chimes in, looking up from her book, "Oh! P-Papa uses those, when we go eat at Saiyeriza. Y-You o-order by scanning the code, and ordering on your phone …"
Sana nods, eyes still on the tatami. "Unlimited drink bar. 300 yen pizza. Unmatched price-to-value ratio. Plus, cheap wine. Delicious, delicious red wine."
Tomoe, side-eyeing Sana: "(You're just joking about that last part, right?)"
Sana: "(For legal reasons, yes.)"
Midori, opening her phone's camera app, tries scanning the QR code on the card.
"Hmm … It's not working …"
"Give it here," says Tomoe. "Let me try."
Midori hands Tomoe her phone, and the piece of paper.
Tomoe focuses the camera on the code, and after a few seconds …
… Ding!
Midori's phone successfully picks up the code, and opens up the web browser.
(At this time, a somewhat-superfluous message, provided by the program's creators, possibly mandated by the TV network's ethics board, appears at the bottom of the screen, unseen by the characters. It reads:
PSA: This is a work of fiction. In reality, please don't scan random things strangers give you. Actually, you probably shouldn't take random cards to begin with.)
Tomoe hands the phone back to Midori. "There you go."
"Ehh? Sugoi!" chirps Midori. "Tomo-chan, you're so good with technology!"
Tomoe blushes, looks away. "I mean, it's pretty basic stuff …"
Lotte laughs. "That's no good, Micchan! Anything more complicated than emojis, and you're completely helpless!"
Midori pouts. "Mouu, Lotte-chan!" Then she smiles. "Well, as long as I have you guys, it'll be okay, right? Eh-heh!"
Midori begins scrolling to the webpage that the QR code unlocked.
"What is it, Micchan?" asks Hanako, curious.
Sana: "Is it a treasure map? I hope it's a treasure map."
Lotte: "Enjoy your new virus."
Tomoe: "Now I'm kinda curious, too."
Midori, scrolling: "It's … I think it's a diary or something."
She begins reading the entries.
*
Updated: Feb 16 2026
… Hi!
Hello!!!
Hello!!!!!!!!!111
If you're a first-time reader who's just found my page, because of the recent announcement of the new season, then … (drum roll please) …
<marquee>W e l c o m e T o M y B l o g !!!</marquee>
My name is PuchiBro and I'm the sole proprietor of …
*
Midori scrolls, and reads.
*
Updated: Feb 18 2026
So, newcomers usually end up inevitably asking what the title actually means.
Puchi. Pura.
And I'm here to tell you, as the premier leading, foremost authority of all things PuchiPura on the internet …
*
Miyanami Midori continues reading.
*
Updated: Mar 3 2026
…
And at long last, we come to Miyanami Midori.
Who is Midori?
Well, Midori is kinda like, hmm. How do I put it?
For me, and for her friends in the Flower Arrangement Club (Tentative), Midori is like the sun.
Midori is like the light at the end of the tunnel.
Midori is …
Midori.
…
Alright, let's close this entry off with Midori's actress, Miyazawa Misaki.
Unlike the others, MiMi actually had a few small roles before PuchiPura.
…
It's really quite unfair. MiMi is just as talented as the others. I won't claim to know how the industry works, but if there's any one who deserves success, it's her.
*
Miyanami … Midori (?) continues to read.
*
Updated: Apr 30, 2026
…
And of course, my favorite performance belongs to …
… Well, you probably could've guessed, but—
It's Midori on a grand piano, doing her heartfelt rendition of Season 2 Episode 19's insert song, Midori-iro Sunset.
…
And here she was, Miyazawa Misaki, who by the way, learned piano just to play this song (check out the behind-the-scenes featurette, she really worked her butt off practicing for this), recreating note-for-note, beat-for-beat, Midori's performance in the show.
… Well, whatever the reason MiMi never got her chance to shine in the years after, I'm glad I got to experience PuchiPura.
…
I was never that happy ever again.
*
Miyazawa Misaki continues to read.
*
Updated: May 15 2026
…
I'm not going to lie.
I sat on that bench for a long time, that day.
I sat there until the sun set.
… No, it wasn't because I thought MiMi was going to show up out of nowhere.
… That'd be plain ridiculous.
… Right?
*
Miyazawa Misaki reads.
*
Updated: June 14, 2026
…
If you would like to join me on Karasutome Island, AKA Umehara, next weekend, June 20-21, then please look for the middle-aged man wearing a PuchiPura t-shirt with the FAC(T) members drawn on it, because that's me.
That's me.
That's PuchiBro.
…
I'd really love to meet you.
…
o7
*
Miyazawa Misaki, voice actress, finishes reading.
She closes the browser.
She puts the phone down on the kotatsu.
She looks up.
The four FAC(T) members around her, at the table, staring back at her.
"Ahh," sighs Lotte. "I guess the jig's up."
Tomoe, smiling thinly: "Fun's over, huh?"
Hanako, with an uncharacteristically serious expression: "I guess there's no helping it."
Sana, a strange smile creeping into her face: "It was fun while it lasted, at least."
And then Miyazawa Misaki watches in horror, as the club members' begin to distort, to morph.
Gone are their immacuately rendered, digitally colored faces, replaced now by dead, glass doll-eyes on fabric skin. Awful gaping doll mouths, loose straw spilling from their doll noses, their doll ears. Their hair, coarse and yarn-like. Stench of mildew and decay emanating from the four effigies sewn into the likenesses of the four characters, all grotesquely off-model, like abominable, corrupted imitations of their true selves.
The four dolls stand up, grinning terribly.
"Join us, Midori …"
"It's so much better like this …"
Miyazawa Misaki shakes her head, backing away from the kotatsu, away from the encroaching dolls.
She shoots up from the floor.
And runs out of the clubroom.
Fleeing into the halls of Umehara Middle.
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