"Reckon there's room."

He's sitting alone, today, at the awkward ass-end of a relatively decent table, grumpily tolerating the fact that the table leg interferes with him really having a place to put his legs. It's better than sitting slightly closer to the vent.

Good! Mal seems nice, if a little too clever for his own good. Tomonori sits.

"How was your day?"

"Can't complain. How hard d'you think it is to make meth?"

"I don't know. Most drugs are hard to make because they're illegal but I think you also have to know chemistry. Maybe alchemy could make meth in a different way."

"Seems like if we gotta alchemize anyhow, we oughta break some bads."

Nod nod.

"That makes sense."

It doesn't; what does "break some bads" mean? Presumably it means 'make drugs in lab' but he thinks he's missing something.

"How did it go with the muffins?"

"Helluva conversation piece. I want Haniyah Malak an' Bobbie an' some girl, didn't get her name, chica looks like a Roman empress, an' I ain't that one blonde chick's biggest fan."

That sure was a series of sounds that corresponded to other students. Tomonori lets them whiz by when he feels them struggling to find purchase in his mind. It doesn't matter. He has a specific topic in mind for their conversation.

"That's nice.

It sounds like you know a lot about talking to people."

"Sure, I'm a boner fried talkin' expert."

Tomonori will ignore the English words he's not perfectly confident on (what does "boner" mean, and what does "fried" have to do with talking...) and bravely push on.

"I want to convince people to let me look at their magical items."

"Lookin's free, 'less you ask permission."

"Oh. I want to ask for permission. Sometimes I can see more if I go closer."

"Tell'em there's a mal grub on it and you can squash it," Mal suggests.

"Oh, that's a good idea! How will I squash it?"

"Make up a fake spell, sell it to someone later?"

-Tomonori wishes he was writing this down so he could evaluate later but it's too late for that now, it would be rude.

He nods.

"Thank you for the advice."

And then he will eat his dinner and see if Mal wants to do...small talk?

Mal will make cheerful small talk in a heavy Southern drawl! His favorite topics appear to be:

• football teams which Tomonori has probably never heard of,
• which enclavers are wearing designer clothes and which are wearing designer knock-offs,
• homework and how much it sucks,
• his idea of cooking meth in the alchemy lab, and
• the bosom quality of their various female compatriots.

Tomonori knows nothing about football teams, designer clothes, cooking meth, or bosom quality. Nodding is a good substitute for talking since he can't offend Mal and he'll think Tomonori is listening.

He does think that homework is pretty great, actually!

"We're here to learn! It's exciting, even though it's scary."