This never happens in this chapter.
We should all have been aware that, with the end of the Comisun saga comes the start of the Comiket saga. In the “Mystery Room” arc, Ruka was seen working on her new manga, and she had already asked Hinagiku to have a look at her new storyboard. In short, there has been progress.
So, what about Nagi? We know that she has already outlined her story (the ghost, the 50th day and the anime finale), but her first attempt at putting it down as drawings was… well, as usual. It certainly means that Nagi is yet to figure out how to put her story in a decent way. However, as we can see at the beginning of this chapter, Nagi is not making any progress. Instead of thinking hard on how to improve her manga, she spends most of her time surfing the internet, reading manga, or playing games. Nagi blames the house for there being too many temptations – an excuse most common among students, before the exams.
If she could case-study the manga, then they are not temptations…
Temptations must be avoided. While students can go to the library, Chiharu suggests Nagi to go to a family restaurant. This gets Nagi excited: she has seen storyboarding in a family restaurant before. According to the narrator, about 20% of Japan’s literary creations are thought up in family restaurants, so this would be a pilgrimage for Nagi: for each career, there is a must-visit “holy place”, which gives you the mental boost to do what the greats have done in the past. For English football, there is Wembley; for Hayate no Gotoku!, there is Doughnut Gunso’s Hayate Report…
The family restaurant Chiharu chooses for Nagi is called jonyathang, and it looks like the restaurant which they go with Hayate and Kayura at the beginning of the Heaven is a Place on Earth movie. This shouldn’t be surprising: if Nagi loves this restaurant, she would become a regular customer and start bringing friends over.
The most important thing about “holy place” is the feeling it gives you.
It really is a pilgrimage for Nagi. Just by sitting down at the table, she has the feeling that she would come up with great ideas. Chiharu counts on her new-found motivation, asking her to “think of something” as she goes to get some drinks. From what we have seen in the movie and this chapter, the drinks system of this restaurant is that you “buy” the mugs, and collect whatever drink you want from the machines.
Well, Nagi is well-known for her lack of focus, so inevitably her new-found motivation doesn’t last long. In fact, as Chiharu returns with the drinks, Nagi’s mind is no longer on her manga, but the menu. Well, the food looks great on the menu, after all, so…
iPhone – never existed in 2005.
A great meal makes us relaxed – one of the main points of naming Hayate as Ruka’s health manager is to lift her spirits with delicious food. Listen up, fellows: no matter how busy you are, you must eat decently. The problem for Nagi is that, her meal is too decent, that she is too relaxed to work on her manga. Instead, she pulls out her iPhone and goes to 2ch, one of the most well-known discussion boards in Japan. For your information, I recently read a Ch. 377 spoilers text which turned out to be a complete fake…
Chiharu is not happy with Nagi. The whole point of coming to a family restaurant is to stay away from all the temptations at home. What difference does it make if Nagi is doing something she could have done at home? What’s worse, the iPhone is not the only thing that Nagi has brought to the restaurant, as there is also a PSP. While iPhone could be a necessary device, what can be said about the PSP…?
This mangaka is hopeless…
Nagi reassures Chiharu that motivation has never been a problem. She is the one who has decided to do well, after all. However, Chiharu is let down once again after refilling the drinks, as she finds Nagi sleeping. Really, is this girl serious about her manga at all?
Chiharu then tries to motivate Nagi by finding her some good examples, and surprisingly an example is sitting around. Ashibashi-sensei, the world’s best mangaka, is shaking in his seat. With his heavy workload, Ashibashi-sensei has always had troubles meeting the deadline(s). Without Hayate’s drinks, it appears that the mangaka is not making it this time… Some example.
A date?
For some reason, Nagi and Chiharu have given up on the manga, and start looking around the restaurant for more interesting people. They spot Klaus and Sonia, as the nun shows the butler a stone “full of her prayers”, which can give the holder a great boost in popularity. Obviously this is a fraud, but Klaus has too much money and too little popularity to care authenticity of Sonia’s words…
For Heaven’s sake, can you at least get a more beautiful stone, Sonia?
At another table, Chiharu spots Aika, who is talking to a guy. We are not sure if he is a butler like Hayate and Kotetsu, but he is in their trademark black suit (okay, he could be Jay or Kay). Although Aika looks unhappy to be spotted by Nagi and Chiharu, it is obvious that she enjoys the guy’s company, as the girls comment that she looks quite different from usual. We are told by Aika’s personal profile page that she has a fiance, so could it be this guy?
Now that’s more like a date.
Very likely, as the two of them share a very sweet and… seductive moment, which is by far the most matured interaction between a boy and a girl in this series. Aika is clearing showing what a matured “love master” could do with a boy, while the other known 17-year-old, Maria, is not performing in this aspect.
This is quite a visual shock for Nagi and Chiharu, and the two of them decide to pretend that they have never seen this. As Aika leaves the restaurant (alone?), the girls bury their heads in the menu, as if afraid that Aika would recognize them. Somehow, they give in to Aika’s reluctance to be seen by them too readily…
Chiharu is not exactly a good editor.
Now that they have seen such a shocking scene, Nagi and Chiharu find that they can no longer be relaxed. As Nagi has no motivation to work on her manga either, she has decided to play Monster Hunter with Chiharu. Another day is gone without any progress in her manga…
We are promised with a coloured title page next week. Of course, in a few days after the release of the chapter, we are going to have the new anime: Can’t Take My Eyes off You! Let’s look forward to all of these!
Hayate Report 