Pupils in the Academy were discouraged from talking to strangers, but the more senior classes often did it anyway. One of Muko's class had heard an older pupil talking about these strange students and calling them 'Machinists'. The Naturals quickly took this name on board since it tallied with their notion that the suitcases contained tools being used to build machines.
The Machinists were accompanied by a teacher who was unknown to Muko since the class of Naturals never had lessons with him. This piqued Muko's curiosity further, so he asked an older pupil in the Reals class for more information and was told