Hayate The Combat Butler Chapter 422: We Shimmer In The Hot Air - Review and Synopsis

Old Saber-Nagi fanart by me coz it's another Ruka cover for this chapter

Synopsis: We see a few intermittent panels that Kayura is being sorta missed by her family back home while she’s staying in the Violet Mansion. Continuing the story that she began to tell from last week, Kayura tells Ruka a story about meeting an idol who was singing and dancing with feverish enthusiasm for a newly opened neighborhood supermarket. Of course, this idol was none other than Ruka herself. Kayura was genuinely touched by the idol’s performance; however, when she (Kayura) went closer to shake hands with the idol and get an autographed picture, she noticed that the idol was smiling bitterly and therefore, wasn’t able to keep things professional until the very end. She concludes that the idol, Suirenji Ruka is terrible at lying and therefore, she shouldn’t draw lies and apparently shows her the autographed picture that she received from Ruka that day.

At this point, Kayura decides to help out with Ruka’s manga leaving Chiharu in charge of helping out Nagi. She and Ruka opt to stay at the Rainbow Village in order to prevent tension between the two heated rivals from living under the same roof until the day of the competition.

Meanwhile, we finally get to see Hamster and Maria again after several years (lawlz) and it seems that the Hamster has caught a summer cold. Maria ominously says that these things tend to spread quickly for those who aren’t at their full strength and right on cue, Nagi is starting to catch the same cold in the next panel. Worried that she’s not making enough progress, Nagi asks Chiharu how Ruka is doing and she replies matter-of-factly that Ruka is making tremendous progress and that she should finish with time to spare because she really does have talent

Whose side are you really on, Chiharu?

Meanwhile, Hayate and company finally arrive at their destination in Hokkaido.

Review: Not much to say here as this was merely a transition chapter that sets the stage for the eventual finale of this whole doujinshi competition. There’s still a lot of things that could happen in-between.  

I have no idea what she's getting at, but Ruka does.

Apparently, Kayura gives Ruka a cryptic message with her story that she shouldn’t draw lies. Frankly, I don’t really know what her intentions are by saying that and how she expects Ruka to react, but it seems to work and according to Chiharu, Ruka makes “tremendous progress” with her manga. 

All I can say is that Chiharu is being a bit mean to Nagi by saying all those things to her when she's clearly already down – and I say this because Chiharu's done something like this before when Nagi broke down after her initial lose to Ruka in this very same arc and it ended up with Nagi going emo for a few chapters until she meets Kayura. 

Perhaps this is her way of instilling some “fighting spirit” in Nagi since she really hates to lose, but you’d think the poor girl at least deserves some more friendly “pat on the back” type of encouragement rather than this… well, in any case, it is within Chiharu’s character to be the “stern big sister type,” so I suppose it’s not that bad. In any case, the worse that Nagi gets treated in this arc, the more likely she will be to come out of it as a better person/character. Although, with Can't Take My Eyes Off You being eventually canon, it seems she still reverts to her spoiled brat ways most of the time anyway.

If Chiharu were my helper, I’d shove the storyboard right down her throat, personally. I really hate the whole “I’m helping you by pushing you” mentality that some people encourage – but, it does seem fairly common to do this in Japanese manga/anime.

Hayate: ^_^ Hinagiku-san, did you know that Lamborghinis have the trunk in the front?

So that’s pretty much it for this chapter. It simply sets the stage for the eventual doujinshi showdown. We learn that Hayate, Hinagiku and Kurosu have now arrived in Hokkaido. Hamster is sick and being taken care of by Maria in the Violet Mansion. Staying in the same mansion are Chiharu and Nagi who are working together on Nagi’s doujinshi. Almost everyone has been accounted for except some six year-old ex-love-interest with ringlet curls, a white tiger, and a perverted ghostly priest… or maybe Hata’s forgotten all about them as well. At least the Hakuo baka-trio might still be secretly filming things in the background and I expect Isumi and her sidekick to show up and help out Hayate's party sometime soon.