[h2]Mika Alkaev - Not That Deep[/h2]
To say Mika was surprised would be an understatement. Usually if he’d said something like that in a polite place like this, he’d get knocked on his ass or otherwise forced to do something rather unpleasant as compensation. All he’d gotten from the Level 10 was benignity all around. Where was the ruler smashing his knuckles and the endless rewriting of “I will not cuss out the teacher” on the whiteboard?

...Hm. Maybe all those books about schoolmarms had colored his perceptions a tad too much?

Whatever the case, he wasn’t about to look this gift horse in the mouth. He was, after all, sure that if he pulled that trick again, he wouldn’t be getting similar forgiveness. He averted his eyes, knowing he’d done something a bit embarrassing, and gave an awkward laugh of relief as he saw his grime fading. 

Though the reason for his relief was pretty obviously not the fact that he was getting a quick clean up. 

“Neat trick.” He tugged his uniform and brought it closer to his face, watching closely at the fading specks of filth. Nanotechnology derived from microtelekinesis - now there was something he’d have liked when he was out on the job a few weeks ago. 

[i]’Uuuuuuh,’[/i] Mika thought, somewhat disoriented by the professor’s words, [i]’Was that part about starting off at Level 4 a challenge?’[/i] Although it was entirely self-perceived, the expectation that the Songbird had “forced on” him was a bit much for the young man’s easily mistranslated mind. Advancing to Level 10 in a good… six, four, [i]something[/i] like that... year window like she had? That was crazy! And he didn’t even have the luxury of general-purpose telekinesis! “Thanks teach, but one step at a time,” he mumbled, slowly and mindlessly following after the older woman, “One... step... at a time.” 

As the two walked, a thought occurred to him: he was following the professor to the lunchroom, but he’d left his actual lunch in the classroom. Taking a moment to silently break away from his academic mentor, Mika dashed through the corridors, skidded to a stop next to the desk he’d placed his lunch, and was right back behind the Songbird.

But before they could make it to the canteen, they were approached by a student - the playdough guy from earlier, Mika noted - who decided to talk to them about some events that were going to happen soon. 

Well, whatever that was, Mika didn’t feel like paying too much attention to what was being said. So he reached into the brown bag and began eating the sandwich therein. "...That...Sounds...Like a....Good idea..." he said between bites.