There was polite, and there was...inhuman. Seriously, where had this kid grown up? Ryouma didn't know anyone who talked like that. Hayate probably still blushed when he talked to girls. If he talked to girls. Royuma kind of doubted it.

He paused, halfway through bending down to retrieve his empty water bottle and his towel, and cocked an eyebrow. "You're not really some sixty-year-old kunoichi pulling a henge on me, right? 'Cause when I was...fourteen, you'd've had to hit me between the eyes with a sledgehammer to keep me from jumping at the chance of food."

He slung the towel over his shoulder and straightened again, wincing as his back creaked. "Gotta say I can't come up with a really good reason for any healthy old lady to go fourteen and gawky all over again, unless you heard about the porn video, too, and want in on it. In which case I can tell you that male and underage are two automatic strike-outs."

If that didn't provoke Hayate into some sort of reaction, Ryouma wasn't sure what would. He threw in a cheerful leer, anyway. "But I like older women!"