"Ever the klutz, huh? I guess it's not your fault though…"
His father could be quite cunning, Ryouma realized, when one morning he stated that Eien-sama had by some miracle agreed to visit. From the few days he'd spent with the easily irritable woman he'd learned she wasn't too fond of humans – perhaps she had an easier time dealing with him and his father when she referred to them as seafood? – and that she most definitely wouldn't visit without a good reason.
When she did arrive though, his father wasted no time practically throwing Ryouma's siblings at the woman, and while she looked rather uncomfortable with the way Takumi was pulling on her ear and Sakura chewing on her hair, Eien-sama really didn't irritated though. In fact, if anything, she seemed rather calm, holding a conversation with Hinoka with little trouble despite the toddlers in her lap.
So she liked children then? She did treat him considerably better than his father when they'd visited, and there was the fact that she went out of her way to teach him things too. Not that he wanted to be considered a child, but…
"Ow, ow ow ow ow OW! My ears do not come off! What has that lobster been teaching you?!"
Ryouma found himself smiling.
He also found himself elbowing his father in the side because really, laughing at Eien-sama would lead to nothing but trouble.