Nagi would be ambitious!
Two weeks ago I said this: “Living a double life as idol and mangaka was extremely exhausting.” Although we know that Luca was rather strong and tough, it was only a matter of time such an exhausting life finally caught up with her.
And that time arrived soon enough, and Luca collapsed. Luckily for her, Hayate was on his way back to her apartment, to tell her the truth that he was actually a boy. He found Luca collapsed at her doorstep, and sent her to the hospital.
This is certainly not House.
The doctor (A rather handsome one, on a side note.) said that Luca was overworked. He mentioned nothing about hidden disease or whatsoever, so for now, let us not assume that Luca would die in the near future.
Atsumari, Luca’s manager (or agent), admitted that she had not expected Luca to collapse. She decided to hire someone to live with Luca and manage her health. In other words, she wanted to hire a care-taker for Luca. It might be a luxury for many of us, but for someone like Luca, it is a sensible decision.
Luca woke up just in time to name the person she wanted to be her care-taker. Of course, it was Hayate.
How do you reject her?
For various reasons, Hayate was her only choice. Firstly, she had already introduced Hayate to Atsumari as her relative, and the manager already witnessed Hayate helping Luca and the crew, so she could trust Hayate a little easier than anyone else. Secondly, Hayate knew that she was drawing manga, so she knew that while any responsible care-taker would stop her from drawing manga, Hayate would not (Hayate: “Meaning that I am irresponsible?”). Thirdly, Luca had very few friends she could trust, and she thought Hayate to be trustworthy.
In the end, Luca asked Hayate to help her with begging eyes. She called him “Maid Star”, recalling what had happened when they first met. Just like back then, she had a wish for “Maid Star” to grant, and she thought she could trust him to help her. Hayate clearly understood the importance behind Luca’s words, so he decided to take the extra burden to look after her.
Hayate hated losing as well.
Atsumari, on the other hand, was not convinced. She did not know that Hayate was an excellent butler, and although she saw how handy Hayate was during the concert, she was rather reserved about his abilities. She called him “an amateur”, and he was clearly offended. After all, he was serving at a Mansion with four girls of different characters to take care of, and now Atsumari called him “an amateur”?
And so Hayate retorted. His words “I am better at looking after girls than anything else!!!” more or less contradicted with his character setting of “cannot handle girls”, but then, it is now more than 300 chapters, and half a year in the story, after the initial setting. If Katsura Hinagiku could become more feminine, then Ayasaki Hayate could become more capable of handling girls.
Atsumari still did not understand the “odd confidence” of Hayate, but then she changed her mind. There was a girl in front of her who agreed to look after Luca, without mentioning to charge any fee on Luca or her company. If things could go well, then a lot of money could be saved, for hiring a care-taking specialist would be rather expensive. We don’t really know why Atsumari became aware of moeny all of a sudden, but then she decided to leave Luca to Hayate.
So, in addition to serving 4 girls living in the Violet Mansion, Hayate became the health manager of Luca.
Maria: "What about me...?"
The first thing that comes to our mind is, of course, whether Luca would move into the Violet Mansion. Atsumari suggested clearly that she needed someone “to live with Luca”. As Hayate still had butler duties, it was not practical to ask him to move out and live with Luca. That would mean she had to move to Hayate’s place. A long, long time ago when Nagi first suggested to lease the rooms out, we all expected Luca to be one of the tenants, so would it finally come true?
The second thing is whether Hayate could finally tell Luca that he was a boy. If he decided to keep his sex a secret, and if Luca really moved in, it would mean that Hayate had to cross-dress whenever Luca was present. In Ch. 319, though, we saw Hayate in his butler uniform. It could mean only two things: either Luca did not move in, or that she moved in and Hayate told her the truth. So, which one would be the case?
The third thing is that, Hayate finally had a clear idea on how to cheer Luca on with her manga. Hina would cheer her on by trying to give her more concrete advices, and although Hayate said that they would cheer Luca on together, he did not have a specific role. By being Luca’s health manager, Hayate cheered Luca on by making her healthy for her double life. The roles and duties of Luca’s side are finally clearly defined.
Just how would these all turn out to be? It is something I am eagerly looking forward to.
It's Chiharu's turn to play.
A little while ago, Nagi’s side had moved to another topic: printing. From what Hata had suggested in this chapter, Nagi would have two choices. She could either print “copy books” with a low cost in a convenience store, or to print “offset books” at a higher cost through a print shop. Nagi was inclined to print “offset books”, possibly because of the better quality, and that there was no need to fold and stample the books on her own. There were some concern, though. Printing “offset books” costs quite a bit of money, and Nagi did not have much money to begin with. Moreover, it took time for the print shops to do the job, and there was only 2 weeks – or even less – left before the Doujinshi Showdown. Anyway, as Nagi suggested herself, she had to work hard.
It was presumed from the beginning that Nagi would make 50 copies (The “100 copies” competition with the Maizumi guy was yet again forgotten…), but suddenly Ayumu voiced out her disapproval. She thought that “50 copies” was simply too small a figure, and it was nothing compared to the “millions of copies” sold by Ashibashi-sensei…
This path leads to the top of Sunshine 60...
I don’t think Ayumu really meant it, but she provoked Nagi. She wanted to become the world’s leading mangaka, after all, and losing that much to Ashibashi-sensei would be too bitter for her to take. She then decided to print 1000 copies, and said that she had to make a manga good enough to sell 1000 copies.
If there is a lesson Nagi hadn’t learnt yet, it is to be more realistic. The June 12 Doujinshi Showdown would be her first time to sell her manga, and she couldn’t be sure whether her manga would be popular at all. Chiharu already told her that only 50% of the circles could sell 50 copies, let alone 1000. Nagi saw the difference between herself and Ashibashi-sensei, and she should be wiser than to compare herself with him again in only one week…
Now Nagi assigned herself a “Mission: Impossible”. She decided to print 1000 copies of her manga, and she would have to suffer the bad consequences if things did not turn out well for her. She made things a lot harder for herself, only because Ayumu said something – let’s face it – stupid.
Well… Chiharu, as well as you and I, are having a bad feeling about this. Nagi was walking down a path… perhaps with no way back…
Hayate Report 