As expected of a chapter titled “cliche”, there are so many cliches to be found in this chapter.
Cliche No. 1: someone has fallen asleep in a very cold winter night. This comes from the person who is arguably the most determined to win the school trip. Of course, Nagi would have the best chance of winning if she has Hayate carrying her by the sledge, but while everyone is putting their lives at stake for the race, seeing someone sleeping soundly in her sledge is not entirely… pleasant.
Cliche No. 2: an extremely dangerous animal just comes out of nowhere. I don’t know much about New Zealand and bears, so I did a bit of research on the internet. The first answer I found was that there are no bears in the wild in New Zealand, but there are some captivated in zoos, so…
Cliche No. 3: always a bigger fish a dangerous moment is followed by an even more dangerous moment. Here comes the avalanche, which is so fast that Hayate can no longer outrun it with a sledge on his back. The bear does not have any deadweight which can be given up easily, and I actually feel sorry as the poor animal is engulfed by the avalanche.
Cliche No. 4: a possibly serious discussion between two characters is interrupted by a rapid change in landscape. Usually it is cliffs that come off, but this time it is a snowy cliff that comes off, so there is a difference. Of course, the good people always fall into water, and they always survive.
Cliche No. 5: a factual error has been covered up quietly. Miki’s Completer now shows 192 hours – instead of 189 hours – 40 minutes left for the trip. This change means that my time account in Ch. 487 finally makes sense, and that the time limit has been rectified to 19:00 in New Zealand on the last day. We might also note that only 5 minutes have passed since the last chapter, and Nagi will be facing her flashforward moment in 15 minutes.
Cliche No. 6: the Completer count drops by two when Hayate and Nagi fall into the water, but we can be sure that they do not make those counts. It means that 5 minutes into the orientation, a total of 7 people have already given up, and only 5 people remain. Assuming that Hayate, Nagi, Hinagiku and Tsugumi make up 4 of the counts, there will leave only one unknown person. So, who is he/she?
Cliche No. 7: the “hotel” for the night(s) has a mysteriously terrifying name. Although it is unlikely that this would be a real prison, the design of a prison-themed hotel could scare some students into giving up. Ironically, giving up the trip for fear of the hotel would mean being stuck at the hotel for the rest of the trip – unless someone is going to try prison-breaking.
Cliche No. 8: a mountain cabin is easily accessible when needed. Of course, the boy and the girl entering the cabin have to face each other naked. While there is good reason for it – their clothes are all wet and they have to dry themselves up – I am more inclined that a self-honouring butler would keep his distance from the cabin.
Cliche No. 9: the new mysterious rival comes out of nowhere and speaks nonsense. Somehow she doesn’t need shelter or warmth, and she is able to speak in the blizzard while looking absolutely… cool. It seems like Nagi’s rivals always have the license to coolness, while Nagi herself… well, she always has Hayate.
Cliche No. 10: Hinagiku is in the other cabin, with only a towel. Apparently although they all get separated since the start of the orientation, cliche fate has now brought all these characters together again. By the looks of it, Hinagiku has had a head start, but not anymore. She doesn’t really seem to care though, because even the highly competitive Student Council President seems to think that sauna during a race is a good idea.
If we go on with this cliche, Hayate is surely going to find Hinagiku – naked – in the sauna, but the problem is we have reached the end of this chapter. I am not entirely sure that the next chapter would put so much focus on cliches, but instead have something entirely different in the next chapter.
So, what should we be more worried about: Hayate losing his life, or Hinagiku being seen naked? Discuss.
I was expecting that the bear was really a person in disguise.
It really has been a while since the last time Nagi gets caught in a compromising situation with Hayate. At least Hayate didn’t say anything that would cause Nagi to run away in anger… though its not like she could with the snowstorm and all.
Tsugumi’s design so far is rather inconsistent in each chapter. Her 1st chapter appearance, she could easily be mistaken as being older. 2nd appearance, she looked closer to how she is in CTMEOY. Here, her eyes are just really off.
Hata himself has been suffering from inconsistency even for the “old” characters, so maybe it is understandable that he is still struggling on Tsugumi’s look.
Now that you mention it, maybe Hayate won’t stumble upon a half-naked Hina this time since the setup is too obvious. Another Hata double-troll. Your comment on Tsugumi speaking nonsense made me chuckle.
Can’t help giving a little poke at her back.
Fifth person is probably Legendary Hero Yukiji.
PS. Nagi doesn’t know Hinagiku wants to help Hayate with his bet. If all she wanted was for him not to pay it back, all she needed to do was change her mind and expect him to come with her to Bora Bora. That she changed her mind firmly and immediately after processing his reaction to whether he’d quit as her butler very likely means that she intends to win a 150 million yen show of love for him.
The logical issue with “Nagi showing love for Hayate by winning the money” is that Hayate has been in debt to Nagi. No matter her intention, Nagi cannot repay a debt to herself.
If Nagi is so keen on letting the debt go, she could simply forgive the debt, or just let Hayate compete for his own (financial) freedom while she stays in the hotel sleeping. Yet for some reason Nagi has decided to win the competition, and thus getting the money, herself.
The way I see, Nagi wants to make sure that Hayate wouldn’t be repaying his debt with the prize money and then simply disappear. This is the way she shows her love, and while I think there is no wrong with it, I simply would not substitute it with a more “noble” intention when the evidence does not support it.
On the other hand she could simply have stayed out of the competition in the first place, or even simply not had him follow her up the mountain.
I believe Nagi originally intended to win it with Hayate, but now she’s changed her mind due to Tsugumi. She’ll realize in the end and be conflicted about it, hopefully talking to Hayate.