Without disturbing him, Orange saw the little bastard who had been out of contact for many days. He slept unusually soundly and slept until almost twelve o'clock. After waking up, he did not feel the usual lethargy caused by low blood sugar, but was unusually energetic.
After washing her face casually and putting on the coat draped over the back of the chair, the woman pushed open the door.
Standing outside the door was a girl with short pink hair and a maid's dress. Although she had been waiting for quite some time, her expression remained calm, without any dissatisfaction, as if waiting for Orange was a matter of course.
That's right, she is the servant of the Tono family, a professional maid. The moment Orange opened the door, the girl bowed just right.
"Good afternoon, Miss Orange."
"Ah, good afternoon, Emerald, what time is it?"
"It's 11:35, and there are still 25 minutes until lunch time." The maid named Hisui answered meticulously.
"Is it that late already? Really... Didn't I tell you that if I'm not up after 9 o'clock, you don't have to wait for me. I'll come find you when I wake up."
Jade simply replied with a deadpan expression upon hearing Orange's complaint.
"It is Emerald's duty to serve Miss Orange."
"Ha~ That's true, but don't be so stubborn. Listen to my opinions once in a while. After all, I am the one you serve, right?"
Orange sighed helplessly and said no more, obviously used to Jade's answer. This young maid was unusually persistent in some aspects, as if she had been programmed with some kind of machine.
"Emerald knows."
It was a standard bow, and the sound without any fluctuations caused Orange to sigh again.
"Sometimes I really feel like you're more of a puppet than Danzo."
As if in response to Orange's comment, the maid beside her still had empty eyes and expressionless face, like an exquisite doll.
"But, neither you nor Danzou are truly emotionless. You are just locked up in some kind of shackles that you have set for yourself. I hope that one day you will find the key to open the shackles."
After saying that, Orange walked out of the room and headed towards the central mansion that he had visited many times.
Jade followed behind Orange with small steps. There was a complexity in her empty eyes, but it quickly disappeared.
"Ms. Orange, your hair is messy, do you need Jade to help you comb it?"
"Never mind, no... No, please, but can you be quicker? I'm a little hungry."
"I see. Please wait a moment."
Feicui quickly untied Orange's hairband and took out a wooden comb from the pocket of the maid's apron. Orange felt a little curious when she felt the friction between the comb teeth and her scalp.
"Do you still carry your hair-combing tools with you?"
"It was the young lady's order."
"That picky perfectionist..."
Chengzi snorted and said no more. Although he was also a picky person, he was only picky about magic and works, and was casual about other aspects. But this nominal student, Tono Akiha, was different. Her pickiness had penetrated into her bones and permeated into every aspect of her life. It was really tiring to live like this.
Because of this, the two had several unpleasant experiences when they first met, and it was ultimately mediated by Tono Makihisa.
"It's not like that." Jade paused slightly, and barely audible words escaped from between her lips.
"Did you say anything?"
"No." Jade shook her head and continued to comb Orange's hair.
She didn't say that Qiu Ye's perfection was forced out for someone she cherished.
She also didn't say that the comb had been in her pocket for nearly a year.
Although the cause was Qiuye's desire to prevent Chengzi from getting up too late and going out without combing her hair, in fact, every time Feicui offered to comb her hair, Chengzi refused until this time.
You are actually the same. So even though you don't seem to have a good relationship, you still became teacher and student.
It was already 11:45 when Orange and Emerald entered the mansion. At this time, Shinji was circling around a cloaked man, saying things like "not bad" and "more suitable than me" from time to time.
"What are you and Dan Zang doing?" Cheng Zi asked. Although her features were hidden by the cloak, she could still recognize the real person under the cloak at a glance.
"Hey, you're up." Shinji smiled and waved his hand, "I'm letting Miss Danzo test my cloak."
"What are the test results?"
"Very good. This kind of treasure should be used by real assassins, not half-baked ones like me."
"Oh, you are quite self-aware."
"That is, although I feel that I am becoming more and more like an assassin, compared to the famous 'Flying Kato' in history, I am still several floors away."
The female doll's name is Kato Danzo, a thief whose name can be seen in kana zoji and military books in the early Edo period, Mizuha - a ninja. He was active in the late Warring States period and inherited the Fuma school of ninjas, and is one of the most famous ninjas in Japanese history.
Legend has it that Kato Danzo can manipulate puppets or mechanical dolls, but no one knows that his true identity is a mechanical doll, created by the sorcerer Kashin Koji and the first generation Fuma Kotaro. He has served the Fuma school for many years and is the master and adoptive mother of several generations of Fuma Kotaro.
Later, due to lack of maintenance and battle damage, it stopped working and was simply circulated in the collector's circle as an antique. It was bought by one of the heads of the Toono family as a collection at some point, and finally given to Aozaki Touko, who was famous for her dolls, as a reward for treating Toono Makihisa.
It took Orange a long time and a lot of precious materials to restart her, and only then did he know her identity and origin.
"Don't you find it strange?"
The world's number one puppeteer blinked, arousing Shinji's curiosity in this way.
"The famous Kato Danzo turned out to be a woman, a doll, and it has been preserved to this day."
"It's strange, but not that strange. When you find out that King Arthur is actually a girl, Mordred is a girl, the tyrant Nero is a girl, and Okita Souji is also a girl, and that all four of them have the same face, you will find that history books are really unreliable."
"... "
Orange was speechless. He wanted to see how surprised this little bastard was, but he didn't expect to be the one who got scared first.
"Is everything you said... true?"
"Have I ever lied to you?"
"I have cheated before. For example, last time we agreed to go and see a rare copy of magic from the time of Catherine, but you stood me up. And the time before that..."
"Stop, stop—"
Seeing Orange start to list his mistakes, Shinji quickly raised his hands in surrender.
"I didn't expect you to remember it after all this time."
"Of course. Don't you know that women always bear grudges? Especially female magicians."
"You win. Let me put it another way. Have I ever lied to you on the key issue?"
"No." Orange shook his head, "That is to say, everything you said is true, but where did you know this?"
"It's a long story. I'll tell you about it some other time. Now, let's have lunch first."
As they were talking, the door of the restaurant was pushed open by a girl wearing a kimono but an apron, giving people a sense of anachronism.
"Ms. Orange, Master Shinji, you can eat now."
Seeing this girl who looked almost exactly like Hisui, Shinji's eyes flashed with a complicated expression.