Sometimes, saying nothing is better.
While Ayumu “trusts” Hinagiku and befriends Nagi, her intuition tells her that Ruka is an imminent threat which must be tackled immediately. Ayumu’s first move was to become Ruka’s confident, so that the latter would (hopefully) not confide in Hayate. However, what Ruka has told Ayumu – that she would want to confess her love to Hayate – blew Ayumu into pieces. So, in this chapter we are going to see how Ayumu struggles to fight Ruka.
To begin with, Ayumu does not underestimate Ruka or overestimate herself. Instead, she is in awe of Ruka’s direct approach. She then begins to brainwash herself that Ruka shines brightly, is a chosen one and is special. But then, this is exactly why Ayumu doesn’t want Ruka to have Hayate: She already has everything, why take Hayate as well?
No, she has nothing.
Little does Ayumu know that Ruka is without a family, is hugely in debt, is desperately fighting for her own dream, and is on the verge of losing her idol job. However, this hardly matters. Could you imagine that Ayumu would have mercy on Ruka once knowing about her sad stories, and leave Hayate to her? Not even for one second.
In fact, Ayumu is just using “she has everything” to motivate herself to challenge Ruka, and it works: Ayumu finally picks herself up and tells Ruka that Hayate might not accept her confession. So, the correct option for the poll I set up in the last Chapter Review has to be “No, he will not.” – only 3 out of 38 voters got the correct answer. It means that Ayumu’s answer really surprises us.
Hinagiku is not in cute mode…
Of course, Ruka wants to know why her confession might not be accepted. Ayumu tells her that the Violet Mansion is full of beautiful girls – from the 6-year-old Athena to the 3717-year-old Maria – and Hayate hasn’t laid a hand on any of them. According to Ayumu, no bloke in his right mind would have no indecent thoughts. To avoid confusion, let me rephrase into that every bloke in his right mind would have indecent thoughts when surrounded by so many beautiful girls.
Ruka wonders whether Hayate has a problem – in fact, he does – but that is not Ayumu’s main point. Ayumu’s point is that Hayate would not fall for looks alone, so there is nothing really special about Ruka even if she is an idol. A mere confession simply wouldn’t work – Ayumu knows this more than any others.
Izumi could give you the answer: no.
Ruka isn’t really getting the point. What she thinks is that it is a matter of approaches, and if a mere confession doesn’t work, she has to take a step further and kisses Hayate. This is a killer blow for Ayumu… It is not quite clear why Ruka suddenly wants to make Hayate her boyfriend so much – nothing really has happened before this Ayumu vs. Ruka battle, right?
In any case, as Ruka’s thoughts have become ridiculous, Ayumu summons a harisen and hits at Ruka. After all, Ruka is an idol, who should not give her kiss to a boy so “randomly” to get his love. This could seriously damage her image as an idol. Ruka calms down and says that she would give Ayumu’s words more thought, so Ayumu thinks that she is now safe – although she isn’t sure how much time does she have before Ruka starts her next attack.
Honestly, this “misunderstanding” is a bit awkward.
Hayate and Chiharu return from shopping seconds after the battle was settled. To Ayumu’s shock, Ruka confronts Hayate and asks him what he would say if a girl confessed to him – exactly the same question Chiharu asked him in the last chapter. A little bit annoyed, Hayate responds that he has just heard Chiharu asking the same thing. And here comes a Hayate no Gotoku! special: a misunderstanding.
As always, Hayate is unable to say things clearly and properly. What is “that” from Chiharu? What is “something like falling for me if I kept being so kind”? If he fails to make such things clear, then misunderstandings would definitely come. To me, he is sometimes assuming that everybody knows what he is talking about, so he doesn’t bother saying things in full details, but the thing is that you cannot expect everyone to understand what you are trying to say if you are not trying to say!
Check out the last chapter and you would know that this specific part of conversation is about Hinagiku.
But there is at least one thing which is quite clear: he finds “love” an annoying topic for discussion. The reason is that he thinks it is pointless talking about who would fall for him, because he is sure no girl would. After all the love affairs he went through with Athena, two confessions from Ayumu, and Nagi giving up her right to inheritance for him (for the argument’s sake, let’s forget about the things he doesn’t yet know), his words are complete nonsense.
This brings me to my argument of the week: Hayate is not ready for a love life. It is not (as Ruka has guessed) that Hayate is not interested in girls, but for reasons known or unknown, he keeps denying the possibility that he could have a love life. He find “love talks” embarrassing, and he would dismiss the feelings a girl shows through her confession. As such, I don’t see why we should push our beloved girls on their love matters – in particular, I don’t think that any of them should confess their love for Hayate.
Unless, of course, you enjoy seeing them being rejected.
Really, Chiharu should simply marry the Butcher.
Back to this chapter. As Ruka and Ayumu have misunderstood Hayate’s words, they begin to feel sorry for Chiharu, who is (supposed to be) hurting inside but still has to keep smiling at Hayate. Of course, we all know that this is not the case, and Chiharu doesn’t really have any bad feelings about what Hayate has told her…
The barbecue begins in the evening. Nagi and Kayura are hanging out while Hinagiku offers food to Hayate (Shipping aside, it shows once again that Hinagiku is one of the few people who cares for those who have been serving the household). Chiharu approaches for what she really cares: the meat. Then, Ruka and Ayumu both approach her and give her their share of meat. They might think that she needs to cheer up, but Chiharu is left confused of what is happening out here.
The margin line informs us that there would be a new development. Is it time for the start of the Comiket saga? Well… let’s look forward to it!
Hayate Report 