After finalizing the Mystic Code design for Ritsuka, Naoki led them out of Crane's workshop and toward another destination he needed to visit.
"Leonardo's private shop?"
In another corridor not far from Crane's workshop, Ritsuka—now gradually growing accustomed to Chaldea's eccentricities—glanced at the signboard hanging beside the door and turned to Naoki. "Chief, is this also… a Servant's place?"
"Why do you think that?"
"Well… just a feeling. And Leonardo… aren't you going to introduce me to Da Vinci?"
Leonardo da Vinci—the renowned historical figure. Ritsuka had studied his life in history class. If someone mentioned a Servant named Leonardo, the only person that came to mind was Da Vinci.
Naoki smiled. "Yes, but the Da Vinci here at Chaldea might be a bit different from the one you know—once you meet them in person, you'll understand."
With that, Naoki opened the closed door.
But the moment it opened—
*BAM!*
An explosion suddenly erupted from inside. The force slammed straight into Naoki's face!
"C-Chief—ah, he'll probably be fine, right?"
Ritsuka instinctively cried out in shock, but she quickly remembered just what kind of existence the Chief was. She calmed down immediately. After waving away the smoke surrounding him, Naoki stepped into the room, unharmed but looking slightly resigned.
"Miss Da Vinci, and Touko too—what exactly are you two doing now?"
"Cough, cough, cough! Nothing serious. I just got inspired after watching Akuta Hinako's fighting style and wanted to try making a doll that can explode repeatedly…"
"But as you can see, it only explodes once. A complete failure as a repeating device. As a bomb, though, the power's not bad."
Inside the room, amid coughing, two voices responded one after the other. One belonged to a beautiful red-haired woman with glasses, wearing jeans and a cheap-looking T-shirt. Probably due to the explosion, she now appeared disheveled and covered in soot.
And the other…
"Mona Lisa?!"
Seeing the other woman, also sitting on the floor in a rather undignified posture, Ritsuka's heart filled with shock.
The reason was simple: the woman's face was strikingly similar to the world-famous painting, Mona Lisa. In fact, they were practically identical!
Hearing Ritsuka's surprised exclamation, Mona Lisa—still seated on the floor—couldn't help but laugh. "Ah, this appearance is just too iconic. Instantly recognized. But your reaction was perfect, Fujimaru. That's exactly the kind of response it should get."
"Fujimaru… oh, you're the new one? The person that kid's been waiting for."
"Yes." Naoki nodded, then turned to Ritsuka. "Let me introduce them, Fujimaru. These two are the heads of Chaldea's Equipment Division. Any future Mystic Code you'll use—be it creation, repair, or maintenance—you can come straight here and see them."
"First, this is Aozaki Touko. She's a Magus, the strongest puppet-maker of the modern age, and my former mentor. I only recently asked her to come to Chaldea."
Touko pushed up her glasses. "Former mentor. You've already graduated. And 'asked'? You basically forced me here with a bunch of impossible conditions I couldn't refuse, didn't you?"
"But you could have refused, right?"
"You little brat, your mouth's gotten sharper…" Touko glared at her student, then turned to Ritsuka. "Your name's Fujimaru Ritsuka, right? I'm Aozaki Touko. Just call me Touko. Calling me by my surname might cause misunderstandings. As that kid said, my specialty is puppets. If your arms or legs break, or your organs get destroyed, I can make perfect replacements. Quality guaranteed."
"Y-yes…"
Touko's words were so far beyond normal conversation that Ritsuka could only respond in stunned confusion. Naoki sighed. "Touko, don't say such grim things. First meetings should involve pleasant topics."
"Fine then… Fujimaru, if you ever need something at night, I've also got a stock of WUUUUUUUU!"
Naoki immediately slapped a hand over Touko's mouth, dragged her to a corner of the room, and held her firmly in place. He turned back to Ritsuka apologetically. "Sorry, Fujimaru. Touko's been going through menopause lately, and since she's still single, she's a bit… off."
"Who's going through menopause?! My body's a puppet—there's no such thing as menopause! And what's wrong with being single, anyway? Are you proud of not being single?!"
Feeling insulted, Touko rarely lost her composure like this, her voice clearly laced with sarcasm. Naoki could only sigh in resignation. Seeing this pair fall back into their usual routine, Mona Lisa—Da Vinci—reluctantly stepped forward to introduce herself.
"Haa… I really can't stand these two. Alright, newbie. As you've probably guessed, I'm the all-around genius, Da Vinci. I'd appreciate it if you called me Da Vinci-chan."
"So you really are Da Vinci…" Ritsuka still found it hard to believe. "You don't look anything like the portraits in history books…"
"That's because I altered my appearance when summoned." Da Vinci chuckled. "To a true genius, gender and age are meaningless. Ideologies and trends change with the times, so to fit modern society, I've set my appearance to what I perceive as the most perfect image, with a few modern modifications."
"But honestly, don't worry too much about our gender, us Servants. After all, mythology and history aren't always factually accurate. For instance, some figures in our Chief's family—by the way, Natsukawa, why did you bring Fujimaru here?"
Hearing Da Vinci's voice, Naoki—who had been busy restraining the raging Touko—turned and explained. "It's about the Mystic Code I mentioned earlier. I just took Fujimaru to Crane. The designs should be sent over tomorrow or the day after."
"Oh, that's it. Hmm… If the designs arrive tomorrow or the day after, fabrication will take about a week, plus subsequent tuning… so at least ten days." Da Vinci mused. "But are you sure you want Fujimaru to wait that long before using a finished product? What if she tries a 'prototype' first? At least she'll learn how to use a Mystic Code."
Naoki nodded. "That's exactly my plan. Right after this, I'll take her to the training room."
"Training?" Touko suddenly laughed. "Is the demon teacher from the Clock Tower returning to their old profession?"
"No. I've already chosen someone to train Fujimaru. They should be waiting in the training room now."