Maybe she has secretly made a decision…
Now that Nagi has finally got the story she wanted in her mind, it is time to put it down on paper. After all, as you write or draw, you would begin to find that some imagination just does not work well on paper (pun not intended). Moreover, if you have some notes to read, you would free your mind from memorizing and recalling your story, thus saving your brainpower for the most important task: processing.
By the looks of it, Nagi is not drawing her storyboard – the “scribbles” Ruka showed Hinagiku and Hayate back in Ch. 332. Most likely Nagi is only writing down the story outline, so even after the outline is approved she would still need to draw the storyboard. It means that Nagi is still very, very far away from completing her manga, unless you say that Nagi is the kind of genius who can draw her manuscript without a storyboard. Well, that might do.
Also, as we note that Nagi is still falling behind in progress, it would be convenient to ask just how Ruka is doing with hers.
The… Lying Dead?
Our (un)lucky girl Chiharu finally arrives at the hotel, lying down like a clump of mud. Obviously Dr. Kurosu’s driving is frightening, but it could have been even more interesting if Hinagiku is the one who takes the Lamborghini. Which one would she prefer, the Lamborghini or the helicopter? It would actually mean something if Dr. Kurosu “persuades” Hinagiku that a helicopter is not that scary after all.
Everyone is still staying up despite not doing anything for Nagi (other than watching her). Chiharu even rises from the floor and says that she cannot go to sleep when Nagi is fired up, earning a praise from Hinagiku while giving her very own Tsundere moment. Finally Nagi makes them useful by asking them to lend her an iPad. As Nagi implies that an iPhone would also do (it sounds like she would have used her iPhone if she has it with her), we actually have at least 2 more iPhones (with Maria and Chiharu) for her to choose. Still, when it comes to web searching, an iPad would still be better.
We have a pair of tech dumbs here…
As the iPad has not been invented yet, Athena has no idea what an iPad is, while Maria’s understanding is… a bit off – the thing is, I never treated my own iPad as a video game player. Arguably even Hinagiku doesn’t know about iPads, because what she compares with her dictionary is “a pad”, not iPad. The dictionary reminds me of the “good” old days, when I actually wanted a handsome brick of a dictionary as my birthday present. Nowadays… buy me a MacBook Air.
Anyway, as Hinagiku is still using a feature phone and without an iPad, we can see how old-school she is. Well, at least she can use (and owns) a notebook computer.
Finally it is Chiharu who pulls out her iPad from nowhere, but Hinagiku and Athena are not letting the subject of the dictionary drop. The fact is that Hinagiku has decided to bring along her dictionary on a sightseeing (i.e. non-academic) trip, on which no one is supposed to be checking facts with a dictionary – even Hinagiku herself didn’t bring it along while sightseeing in Kyoto. Chiharu and Athena are both stunned, and Athena starts challenging Hinagiku.
Don’t hold them with one hand!
More horror is revealed as Hinagiku pulls out two 5 kg weights from her enormous luggage. Nobody understands what she is doing with the weights – it is presumed to be men’s toys. Training with weights makes you powerful, so now we know why her Hina punches hurt so much for Hayate… Well, that guy deserves them, doesn’t he?
Athena is still criticizing Hinagiku’s luggage, and the “mother and daughter” soon start to bicker. Athena, obviously a friend of Jony Ive minimalist, suggests that she only needs to bring along her visa card, even if she needs a tank. I do not think that Chiharu and Kayura’s reaction is necessary, because it most likely is just an example of an expensive item.
Okay I wrote it down. Now show me the back side…
Do note that the holder’s name on Athena’s card is “Alisu” – or “Alice” in English. I don’t know if a bank could issue a card to someone who only has a given name, and apparently only six years old. Still, the general belief is that the bank would do anything for you if you are as rich as Bill Gates.
As Hinagiku and Athena continue to bicker, it becomes a clash between two schools of thought. Hinagiku thinks “the more the better”, while Athena thinks “less is more”. The latter goes as far as to suggest that she could order a sandwich on top of the Himalayas with her visa card. It must be torturous for the unlucky one who is assigned to deliver the sandwich, but Alice seems to be having fun imagining the scene. This earns her another “S” comment for the second straight chapter.
“It’s not an S. On my world, it means hope.” – Sup… excuse me?
Now I truly believe that she is an assassin.
Apparently Chiharu thinks that Hinagiku and Athena are two of a kind, so she asks Maria to settle the argument. Maria points out that you should neither do a Hinagiku or an Athena, but bring the necessary things. This of course makes perfect sense, and Chiharu and Kayura praise her for that (while Kayura takes a jab at Hinagiku). The problem, however, lies with the definition of “necessary”…
As we can see, Maria pulls out knife after knife after knife – all, of course, for culinary. I am not really sure if this is “normal”, should we say, or not. As Nagi’s maid, Maria has the duty to prepare food for her (or even them), and a big part of the preparation requires knives. There aren’t too many places where Maria could find a full set of knives, so if she needs some specific knives, it is actually better for her to bring her own set.
Then again, when we are on trips, we are entitled to buy food from local stores and restaurants instead of cooking by ourselves. As we have seen from the previous chapter, Maria is perfectly fine with local food. It means that she wouldn’t insist on cooking by herself. So, she could be – and should be – a lot more relaxed and simply leaves the cooking to the locals.
Maria: “Why me?”
Chiharu and Kayura have had enough of the “idiots” who have the wrong ideas of what to and what not to bring on a sightseeing trip. Well, they say that there is only a very fine line between a genius and an idiot… Nagi has had enough of this as well, so she decides to tell someone off. As Hinagiku and Athena have already shut up, poor Maria is the one who takes the blow…
On Nagi’s request, everyone stays with her through the night, although I still don’t see how they could be useful. By 5:01 Nagi has finally finished her outline, but we only see Hinagiku, Chiharu and Dr. Kurosu staying with her – the other three, especially Athena, are most probably sleeping. Nagi does not ask her friends to read her outline, and they do not take it by themselves. Critical comments could come later, after they all get some sleep.
It is not about whether your are religious.
Now is the time to give thanks to the gods, whom Nagi believe to have given her the story. As such, Nagi, Hinagiku, Chiharu and Dr. Kurosu visit the Ise Grand Shrine. As Nagi thanks Dr. Kurosu, the traveling doctor suggests that she may “make it” as well. This reminds us that Dr. Kurosu has yet to reveal just what she is up to, other than visiting the Shrine.
Amusingly, their schedule needs not be changed in order to give Nagi more time for the story, but something else has changed: the day before Nagi was worrying about her story and wasn’t in the mood of visiting the Shrine, but today she has finished her story and is able to visit the Shrine with a peaceful mind.
Hinagiku: “And next time I’ll be kissing your forehead.”
It is indeed too peaceful that Nagi collapses into a deep sleep. She might need Hayate’s kiss in order to wake up, but he is still in Tokyo with Ruka, so for the time being Hinagiku would be carrying her on the back. Hinagiku then remembers how everyone made fun of her the previous night for bringing weights on a trip, so she points out to Chiharu that such training would become useful for times like this. As Athena was the one who clashed with her head on, hitting out at Chiharu doesn’t really help much…
As they return to the hotel, Kayura brings to them the breaking news that Ruka is having her come-back concert today. At the moment there is too little information for me to figure out just what is going on here, so I think I’ll just wait and see why Ruka has decided to go back on stage again. Then again, it could well be that it isn’t her choice at all.
From the next week onwards Chapter Reviews shall be released on Wednesdays again.
Hayate Report 