Hayate no Gotoku! Ch. 306

Why are they filming a naked Hina?

This week, Hayate no Gotoku! makes the cover of Shonen Sunday, with the announcement that the Theatre Anime would be on air this summer – in Japan, of course.

The cover features Nagi as the “Ultra Director” -（超監督）, the same title as Suzumiya Haruhi has given herself. Hayate is her assistant (sort of), so he must be Kyon. Hina is in the films, so she would be Mikuru, right?

The words might have suggested that Hina could be the female lead of the Theatre Anime, but I am not ready to take them very seriously. She has every reason to be the lead, though.

As Valentine's Day is approaching, Maria offers her heart chocolate.

Finally Hayate managed to repair the boiler, so there was no need to go to the public bath again. At the same time, Maria was reading a “lost dog” notice. It was an extremely huge white dog without a collar. Why would the masters lost sight of such a huge dog, and why would such a huge dog not carry a collar, is a mystery.

The butler can fix anything.

Hayate asked Maria where the others were, as Nagi, Chiharu and Hina were out of sight. It meant that he missed the moments when they left the Mansion, so it must have taken him a long time to repair the boiler. Well, that thing has been in a huge mess after what the four girls had done to it, after all.

Maria told Hayate that Nagi and Chiharu went somewhere, but presumably together. These two had become good company to each other, hadn’t they? Hina, on the other hand, went to school. We always know that the Student Council President never stopped working, but then again it was clear that she had little time for Hayate or Alice.

It was about 10 a.m. so Maria went off for shopping. Now that Nagi, Maria, Chiharu and Hina were all out of the Mansion, the only ones remaining in the Mansion were Hayate and Alice.

Her room was extremely dim...

Once again, Alice woke up at 10 a.m., so in terms of “waking up” Alice was actually worse than Nagi. But then, Alice acknowledged that it was a problem, and she had to adjust to the rhythm of life in the Mansion, otherwise “being here will be a complete waste”.

Well, what we know is that Alice was living in the Mansion in order to get the power and memories of Athena back, and apparently it could not be done simply by sleeping, otherwise she would not have any problem with oversleeping. That is, “sleeping” is not exactly a part of her plans. So, what are her plans?

Alice: "I gotta wake up, I gotta wake up... ZZZzzz..."

Alice went downstairs and took a sunbathe, and soon enough she fell asleep again. At that moment, she behaved more like an old lady than a small girl…

Suddenly, Hayate greeted her from behind. He did not call her “Alice-chan”, but “A-tan”. It means that he was absolutely certain that she was “Tennosu Athena” instead of “Alice-chan”, and he was treating her as “Tennosu Athena” instead of “Alice-chan”.

You have to admit that she looked like Nagi and behaved like Nagi.

Alice did not rebuke to the nickname “A-tan”, which only made sene if she agreed that Hayate should have addressed her that way. She might have lost the memory of Athena, but she remembered her true identity, and the nickname which only one person on the world was allowed to use.

Hayate reminded her that she had had difficulties waking up in the morning since 10 years ago. Alice told him that she could not wake up early because of a reason. Actually, there is a simple reason: She stays awake very late at night. Whether this was in fact the case, or what she was doing so late at night, remains to be seen.

You are hopeless, Hayate...

Hayate offered her breakfast, and he managed to make a (horrible) joke to Alice. Enjoy…

Even though she asked Hayate to make her pancakes, she still had the choco cornet. Just as she was complaining Hayate for his “drill hair nonsense”, something huge came into her sight.

Something HUGE...

Oh, come on! This thing was almost the size of an ox!

Understandably, Alice was scared of the dog, even though it was only licking her in a “very friendly” manner. Hayate heard her and came to her rescue, but he did not understand: With A-tan’s power, surely she could have get rid of this dog with one hit?

Well, honestly, don’t do it even if you could, for this is animal welfare we are talking about.

But then, at least she knew some things happened 10 years ago.

Alice replied that she was “in this child form having had the memories and power of ‘Tennosu Athena’ sealed”. Now this is interesting. Her memories and power had not “lost”, but “sealed” . Who could have done this, and how?

A pressing matter then came into Hayate’s mind. If her memories and power had been sealed, then there must be a way to get them back! Surely, he wanted to know how.

So, how, exactly? What we know is that, Alice’s “plans” involved the Violet Mansion, the Shirosakura and possibly Hina. So far, Alice never suggested that she would need Hina or Hayate to do anything else, other than making sure that Hina stayed with her in the Mansion for 3 months. How much help could Hayate offer to her was doubtful.

Even then, her “plans” did not look like working. She was already questioning the point of staying in the Mansion, and if Hina and the Shirosakura were necessary for her “plans”, she should have recognized that she was suffering from a lack of the so-called “Hina-Alice moments”. Would she be looking for more of these “moments”?

The dog was going a bit too far.

Anyway, Alice had no time for any more explanations, for she was on the verge of being crushed by the weight of the dog. For the dog’s sake, and for her own sake, she wanted to look for the master of the dog. Hayate then remembered that this dog was the missing dog mentioned in the flier, so they set off to return the dog to the owner.

It was clear that Alice did not hate the dog. He obeyed her commands and has been very friendly to her, and she was happy with that. On the way to send the dog home, Alice kept interacting with the dog by teaching him how to obey the traffic lights, as if there was actually a point teaching him all these.

The reunion.

Soon enough, the owner revealed herself. It was Hibino Fumi, the next Student Council President, who had not made an appearance in canon for almost 2 years. She was still her old energetic self, and the very touching moment of reunion looked hilarious.

The dog’s name was Armageddon. This name came, most suprisingly, from the Book of Revelation in the Bible. For more information, see here.

This is scary!

Alice became sad when she realized she had to say goodbye to her new-found friend. Fumi then pointed out the main reason for Armageddon to fancy her: “Your hairstyle looks just like the choco cornets he loves so much!” What did Alice think of the dog after that comment, and Armageddon’s action in chewing her drill hair, we are not entirely sure.

At night, Hayate reflected on the day, and about Alice. He remembered that Alice had lost her memories and power, and he came to a sensible conclusion: She was only a little girl who was lost, and was alone in a strange place. He came to comfort her, by suggesting her to sleep with him. Given that Hayate and Athena slept together when they were 6, this is not something for us to yell about.

But it just looks like something's going wrong!

Yet, Hayate demonstrated once again that he can be understanding. He could be sensible when he has to be, but the question is: What does it take to bring out his sensitivity? Could it be the person he is facing? Or is it the type of problems he is tackling? 

So, what’s next? If Alice is not going to reveal her “plans” in a little more details, then perhaps it is time for the second part of the Doujinshi arc to begin. If it is not the Doujinshi arc, then maybe it’s an Ayumu or Sakuya chapter?