Now we all know who's being loved!
This is yet another chapter with 12 pages only. We cannot be sure what is happening, but let us hope that the recent two chapters are exceptional cases. Having 4 pages cut from each chapter is hardly a good thing, in any sense.
In Ch. 318, Wataru made up his mind to quit Hakuo Academy. Obviously he was giving up high school classes, but Saki reminded him that he entered Hakuo “for a reason other than your school work”, and we all know what the “reason” was. Wataru had a crush on Isumi, who attended Hakuo Academy, so he joined Hakuo in order to have more time with her. That came with a heavy price, though. The coursework of Hakuo was far too demanding for Wataru, and he needed Nagi to be his tutor before exams. He was willing to pay this price in order to stay close to Isumi, so we never saw him giving up.
"Man's romance" of a young boy.
Yet, he finally had decided to quit Hakuo so that he could concentrate on his business, and it would also mean to quit chasing after Isumi. “Man’s romance” dictates that a boy has to confess before he gives up on the girl, and Wataru was no different. He wanted to confess to Isumi before he left her – although we have no reason to believe that they would never see each other again.
Wataru recalled the day he fell in love with Isumi. He was a small kid then, and he visited Nagi – the two of them might have a rather rocky relationship now, but when they were kids they seemingly got on very well. Then they saw a flying cockroach, an extremly scary creature which makes everybody scream. Perhaps it thought that it had not caused enough horror in the kids, it had decided to fly at Wataru and Nagi!
Why do these things have to FLY?!!
As a person who hates pests, I fully understand just how scared the kids were. When we compare our size to a cockroach, though, we might find it funny that we are afraid of something so inferior in size to us. Size really is no guarantee of power, just look at Gin… I mean, cockroaches.
Something as powerful as a cockroach requires something even more powerful to defeat, so Isumi came and defeated it – with apparent ease. She didn’t mean it, but she had become Wataru’s saviour, and Wataru fell in love immediately with his heroine. Do note that Nagi stood there, watched and gave a disapproving expression. As they grew up, Nagi and Wataru had become a little more mean to each other, so maybe it came from some slight jealousy on Nagi’s part?
People who laugh at someone who cannot confess need much more real life experience.
So Wataru had decided to tell Isumi his feelings, and he went for her and gave it a try.
What we must understand, though, is that while “confessing” is not an easy thing to do in reality, it is Mission: Impossible in this series. At least, it was so for Hina to Hayate, for Kaoru to Yukiji, and now for Wataru to Isumi. Indeed, he did not have the bravery to bring himself to say those words. It has nothing to do with the so-called “Tsundere”-ness, or any “hatred of losing”. It is simply… a very hard thing to do. While we praise those who successfully confessed, could we offer some more sympathy and support those who could not do it?
Ayumu the paparazzi.
Speaking of someone who had successfully confessed, there came someone who managed to confess to Hayate – twice. From a certain point of view, she really was the pro of confessing. From another point of view… well, even after confessing twice, she couldn’t get Hayate to be her boyfriend yet, so you can’t fault Wataru for saying that none of her confessions borne fruit.
As always, Ayumu showed much interest in others’ love lives. As always, Ayumu did not only listen, but offered advice and support as well. This time, she told Wataru to “be straightforward about this”. There are some people who are just so dense, failing to recognize the feelings of her pursurer after 10 years. Well, both Wataru and Isumi were both kids in those 10 years, so we can’t really blame Isumi for her insensitivity.
She seriously meant it.
In her conversation with Hayate and Nagi, Isumi might have showed us the true reason behind her insensitivity: she firmly believed that Wataru loved Nagi, not herself. Her thought process went like this:
- Wataru loved Nagi.
- As he loved her, Wataru entered Hakuo in order to chase after Nagi.
- Nagi complained that Wataru never once said he loved her, so Nagi was being dense.
Well, you thought Isumi was dense by the same process.
On paper, this thought process made perfect sense. The problem, though, lied at the very first point. What actually brought Isumi to think that Wataru loved Nagi? Well, perhaps it was the fact that Wataru and Nagi were engaged. The thing is, it seemed that she never thought that two people who were engaged would have no romantic feelings for each other.
The conversation between Nagi and Isumi (Hayate said nothing, actually, so he wasn’t really in the conversation.) was quite funny, actually. Both girls thought that Wataru loved the others. Both followed the same thought process and came to the conclusion that the other was dense.
In the heat of their debate, Sakuya arrived and gave Isumi a piece of paper, which was (said to be) from Wataru. What would be in the paper?
Ayumu was not always sensitive either.
Meanwhile, Ayumu arrived at Wataru’s store and told Saki about Wataru’s confession. We know (Although apparently Ayumu didn’t.) that Saki had special feelings for Wataru, and she was clearly upset by this. What would she do about it? Let’s look forward to the next chapter!
Hayate Report 