Hayate The Combat Butler Final Chapter: The Place of Beginnings (A One-Shot Fanfic)

Disclaimer: This is a non-canon, fanfiction written by a fan of the manga and anime. I am not affiliated with Kenjiro Hata. I do not own any of the characters or places described in this fan-made fiction piece. Hayate no Gotoku! And all its characters belong to Kenjiro Hata and I make no claim of ownership on any copyrighted material expressly or impliedly mentioned/referenced in this fanfic.

It was a relationship that was doomed to fail – one that was built upon a misunderstanding…

Everything began on that night before Christmas.

Hayate Ayasaki checked the hands on his wristwatch. Maria-san’s surprise birthday party had already been concluded hours ago. It was 15 minutes past 9. Still a little bit earlier than the appointed time, but he figured that he might as well head for the meeting place early.

Suddenly, a cool breeze blew past, bringing with it a few pieces of snowflakes – one of which lightly brushed past the surface of his wristwatch

“Ah! That’s no good!”

Gifts are special because they embody the feelings of the giver

He quickly took a handkerchief from his jacket and wiped off the tiny bit of moisture that the stray snowflake had left behind on the watch.

“Phew! It doesn’t seem to be damaged.” He breathed a sigh of relief.

“She worked so hard to get this for me, after all.”

He snickered a bit as he thought of the fun times he’d had with his former mistress and their good friend, Ayumu Nishizawa, with their part-time jobs inside Cafe Donguri not too long ago -- a part-time job that his former mistress had taken on a whim just so she could buy him this watch with her own money instead of making use of the vast fortune that had been protecting her since birth. These things all seemed like an eternity to him now, even though it had only been a few months since then. So many things had happened in the one year that he’d been a Sanzen’in Butler.

He placed his hands inside his coat pockets in order to protect the watch from getting wet. He had of course entertained the idea of simply taking it off and leaving it behind, but that simply wouldn’t do, especially not today. He had asked for a watch as a present specifically because he could keep it with him all the time after all.

The seventeen year-old walked along the park at a leisurely pace with an apparent spring in his step. The cold winter air didn’t really bother him all that much even though he only had a rather oversized and well-worn fur coat to keep himself warm. He could have picked something warmer to wear, but it simply didn’t feel right for this particular occasion. A few flakes of snow aside, it wasn’t really freezing and it was actually considerably warm given that it was Christmas time.

Before long, he came upon a familiar row of vending machines. This place held many memories for Mr. Ayasaki. It was a place of many beginnings for him and his friends – as well as a place of farewells, but all that was in the past now. This is what Hayate Ayasaki was thinking at that moment: What matters is the future that we grasp together.

He closed his eyes and smiled peacefully – it was a smile of utter contentment, one of a man who had finally made a definite decision.

There were no traces of his bitter past in Hayate's smile.

“Hayate? You’re here early.”

Hayate quickly turned towards the direction of the voice – a voice that was all-too-familiar to him.

“Ojou-sama… I have something very important to ask you.”

His former mistress turned to him with a pensive look on her face.

“W-what? What is it now? And can you stop calling me Ojou-sama? You’re no longer indebted to me after all,” her voice quieted down to a near-whisper, “calling me out here all of a sudden, really.”

The girl slightly averted her gaze as she said this.

The young man smiled brightly.

“Sorry about that. I guess it’s become a habit at this point.”

The petite blonde beauty before him narrowed her eyes down into slits.

“So…? Why did you ask me to meet you out here this late? I hope you’re not going to say that you’re in trouble with some girl again.”

“Ahaha! It’s nothing like that Ojo—er, eek! Force of habit, sorry sorry!”

Hayate bowed deeply to apologize.

“I-idiot! There’s no need to apologize like that! It’s fine, it’s fine, now will you tell me why we’re here? … it’s getting a bit cold and I didn’t put on any winter clothes since it wasn’t snowing.”

At that, Hayate approached his former mistress and then knelt down until he was at eye-level with her.

“E-eh?” The girl’s cheeks flushed red.

“Ah, that’s true. Then, I will get right to the point… will you go out with me?”

Suddenly, the young  girl’s eyes flashed with a murderous rage.

“STUPID! Be careful with how you say that! D-don’t you remember that your cockamamie choice of words is what set off this whole chain of misunderstandings in the first place? You even said the exact same thing… really.”

“Ahahahaha!” Hayate laughed sheepishly.

“D-don’t laugh! It feels like you’re making fun of me.”

“Sorry, sorry… I couldn’t help it. You look so cute when you’re angry like that.”

His former mistress smiled sweetly, although it did nothing to conceal the murderous intent behind said smile.

“Hayate… do you want me to stomp on your foot? Or maybe a kick to the midsection is more to your liking.”

Not wanting to re-experience “the pain of love” that another blonde-haired girl had taught him long ago, the young man looked deep into her eyes. With a simple gaze, he had erased all the animosity that the girl had accumulated. Hayate’s former mistress looked up at him expectantly.

“You know… I was thinking for the longest time just how I was going to tell you this, but then I realized something.”

“Hmm… what is it, Hayate? Why are you being so vague all of a sudden?” She asked him while blinking twice – bewildered.

“You once told me… that words are the root of misunderstandings – and that I didn’t need to put it into words… so therefore…”

“So therefore?”

The girl felt her cheeks flush red once again as the young man before her took her hand in his. She felt something cold and hard wrapped around her finger.

There's no need to put it into words... words are the root of misunderstandings

“This time, I made sure that you would not misunderstand my intentions.”

“H-Hayate?”

“So, I ask this of you again, Miss Nagi Sanzen’in. Will you go out with me?”

At that moment, as if the goddess of good fortune had finally lent her smile to the unluckiest boy in the world, snowflakes slowly floated down from the skies and twirled to the silent melody of the calm winter breeze.

“…Yes!”

It was a relationship that was doomed to fail – one that was built upon a misunderstanding…

But, even a misunderstanding can become a reality. As long as you are together, the possibility is never zero.

And this is how their love finally began on that night before Christmas; in this fateful place of many beginnings.

"I want to protect that smile... always!"

Epilogue (Feel free to skip this part if you're not familiar with the manga)

Meanwhile, inside the Katsura Household where Maria’s surprise birthday party was just held, everyone’s eyes were glued to the TV, intently watching Ruka Suirenji’s farewell concert in Tokyo Dome.

“I can’t believe that Ruka’s really retiring for good this time.” Remarked Chiharu Harukaze.

“Still, it’s a good thing, isn’t it? This time, she’ll be retiring with a smile on her face since she not only made enough money to pay off her debt in such a short period of time, but she also has a bright career path ahead of her as a professional mangaka… besides,” Kayura Tsurugino paused for a moment before continuing, “People die if they are killed.”

“That line just sucks no matter how well you cosplay Emiya Shirou,” Chiharu said matter-of-factly.

“Hina-chan! Bring me more sake! Sake!”

“Geez, are you really a teacher at Hakuo Academy? You’ve had enough alcohol for one night, onee-chan! Seriously, you even drank all that expensive liquor at Maria-san’s party earlier.”

“Haha! You got that right, but look at Maria right now. Why’s she sleeping with such a contented look on her face? She said that debt-ridden butler got her something really special for her birthday… I wonder if it was something naughty?” Yukiji Katsura said in a drunken stupor.

“Oh look!”

“What is it, Ayumu?” Asked Hinagiku.

“Look out the window! It’s started snowing… it’s really pretty isn’t it?”

“It is. It’s almost as if the goddess of good fortune was blessing this night with her smile… at least, that’s what I think.”

“Eh, that’s a pretty strange thing to say, Hina.”

“No, it’s not.” A familiar voice with a distinctly Kansai accent suddenly interrupted.

“She really is smiling upon us… but most especially upon them.” A very calm female voice added.

“Huh? Isumi and Sakuya? Where’d you two come from?”

“Who knows? She just got us lost again and we ended up here for some reason.”

“So,” asked Ayumu, “what’s this you’re all saying about a goddess smiling upon us?”

“Yes,” said Isumi, “there is definitely a goddess looking out for everyone tonight, and she has blessed them with her smile.” Isumi seemed to be pointing out to some faraway place as she said this.

At the same time, somewhere inside a large Mansion halfway around the world, a beautiful lady named after a certain Goddess was contentedly watching over everything from a distance.

“Tokyo seems so far away now, doesn’t it, Ikusa?”

“Yes, it does, ojou-sama.”

Back inside the Violet Mansion, a certain white tiger and head butler were lamenting the fact that they had no speaking lines throughout this piece.

THE END

Author's  Notes

Time for my disorganized ramblings: This is the first time that I've written a fanfic since over a decade since I've developed a preference for writing original fiction ever since I started writing visual novels sometime back in mid-2005. I guess it goes to show just how much I've fallen in love with this series and it's characters.

This fanfic may be treated as my own prediction of the eventual, logical conclusion of this manga. I didn't want to suddenly force in a situation wherein Hayate and Nagi are already in a dating relationship since as much as I might want such a development to happen within the run of this manga, I just don't see it happening logically within the framework of the ongoing story that Hata has created.

Hata has already more than hinted at Hayate x Nagi being the eventual canon pair with the movie and the two latest anime seasons of Hayate no Gotoku! but so far, it's all been implied through the situation/setting and use of shipping visual cues such as those "heart framing" moments in the final episode of Cuties. As far as their feelings for each other are concerned however, Hayate hasn't so much as dropped a single hint that he is "romantically interested" in Nagi. The keyword here is "romantically," because if we're just talking about the presence of a strong bond between these two, then Hayate himself has stated that Nagi is his life - from there, it would not be too hard for feelings of romantic love to develop, especially given that they live under the same roof, are both quite young and neither seems to find the other one particularly unattractive. 

The main argument against the Hayate x Nagi pairing is founded on the fact that Hayate deems Nagi to be too young to be relationship material at the moment. Based on the manga, it's my opinion that Hayate isn't really talking about actual age, since 3 years isn't really that big a difference and he treats Sakuya who is just a few months older than Nagi as an adult. Currently, Nagi is undergoing many changes in her life, which is visibly changing her personality as this manga progresses. It is my belief that Hayate has already begun to take notice of these changes and with possibly only one major arc left after Ruka's arc, he will start to see Nagi in a different light before this manga is concluded.

This fanfic also addresses another concern for this pairing - the fact that there has been zero romantic development between Nagi and Hayate throughout this manga while there has been plenty for the other girls who are interested in Hayate (Hinagiku, Athena and Ruka mainly). I just wanted to show that he doesn't necessarily need to fall head over heels in love with Nagi within the manga's run, but that he can simply realize that he had already fallen in love with her and that he was just too dense to accept his own feelings.

Finally, you might be wondering, "why a ring just for asking her out?" It's actually an allusion to the manga. Hayate and Athena gave each other a ring when they were very young even though it didn't work out for them. Since the theme of this particular fanfic is "starting anew," I wanted Hayate to start his relationship with Nagi in the same way that he eventually concluded his relationship with his childhood sweetheart.

I hope you enjoyed reading this short scenario and I hope to see you again in future stories to come - whether fanfic or original fiction. Please feel free to give me a review, although I would like to politely ask you to refrain from giving me "critique to help me improve," since I'm not looking for that kind of feedback at the moment.