He moves away from the machine to bow to me, and I offer him the courtesy in return.

He's stopped smiling already, at least stopped smiling though I can still catch the twitch of a smirk at the corner of his mouth. A shame.

"Very good." I fall into step, just a half step behind him, but otherwise right beside him. He leads me outside, and I keep an eye out to try and remember this path we are taking, in case I should want to find this supposed cafe on my own in the future.

"Yes, this is my first year." I say. "My focus is on theoretical physics and engineering. And you?"