Hayate The Combat Butler Chapter 488 - Buffets Are Filled With Dreams: Review And Synopsis

STAHP! Isumi doesn't wear the Hakuo Uniform!

Synopsis: In the midst of an amusing but relatively uneventful buffet lunch at the hotel wherein we see that Hayate likes to make cheap dishes and Isumi likes her curry, Kananiwa once again appears via a monitor provided by her men in black.

I have no idea if this is a reference to anything, but this scene amused me.

Kananiwa explains that there's going to be an "orientation" consisting of a race from the top of the snowy mountain at night to the hotel at the base. The top placers receive a reward. Masked Yukiji asks if this has anything to do with the 150 million price to which Kananiwa answers in the negative and that the orientation is voluntary.

Nagi is very capable when it comes to intuition and deduction... which might come as a surprise to some, but not to this reviewer.

Nevertheless, Hinagiku is the first to volunteer despite the apparent dangers of the competition and although Hayate presumes she'd sit it out, Nagi says that she and Hayate will be participating as well.

Of course she is, you half pint!

When Hayate asks her why, she simply says that there's no tension to this level 5 competition and thus, the key must be in this orientation.

Suddenly, Ruri Tsugumi (whom you should know if you've seen CTMEOY) appears and congratulates Nagi for her intuition and officially introduces herself in this manga. She also says that she's just a classmate.

Listen to your master, fool! You ain't takin this competition seriously enough, son. You'll never make level 5 unless you murder lots of Misaka's

Hayate points out that Nagi can't ski... so once the competition is ready to begin, she makes use of Hayate as a human reindeer while she rides behind him on  a sleigh. 12 people are taking part in this competition and Nagi states that they are their strongest enemies.

Hoh! She serious now, yo!

Once the race begins, there's a raging blizzard outside and the completers numbers subsequently go down to 49. Apparently, one of the competitors chickened out and dropped out at this stage.

Review:  Well? Still think Nagi's doing this to PREVENT Hayate from winning? Huh? Huh?

Doesn't take a genius to figure this out, really.

Meh, just kidding. Think what you will. Anyway, it looks like no one else has even thought of pressing the other competitor's completers just yet, but it seems the number of prospective winners might have been narrowed down to 12-13 people, that is, if you believe Nagi's speculation that the key to victory might be in this "orientation." You know, Kananiwa could have called it a "disorientation." 

Speaking of Kananiwa, I'm beginning to like her and her crazy ideas. She's definitely a lot more interesting than Dolly -- if that's even who she's supposed to be.

With that said, looks like Nagi's got sharper intuition than Hayate regarding this competition now that she's taking it seriously, although I had to laugh when Hayate pointed out that she couldn't ski and their subsequent solution.

Nagi does not seem to be very fond of her.

Also, we finally get Ruri Tsugumi introduced into this manga for real and she still has the same name as in Can't Take My Eyes Off You -- so far though, she seems to be a lot more cunning and possibly smarter than the comedic half-pint from the TV series.

Finally, one thing I've noticed is that Nagi seems to be more interested in uncovering exactly what Kananiwa is up to with this competition rather than thinking about sabotaging any other competitor's chances.

By the way, if you're interested in the specific timeline we're in now, it seems Doughnut Gunso's done a pretty good job at that with his previous chapter review... and possibly continuing on into this one.

Speculation Corner: ... well, nothing about the current arc to speculate on just yet, but... I just want to provide some counter-arguments to the "Hayate hasn't shown any feelings for Nagi rationale."

I have a plausible theory as to why that hasn't happened yet: What do you think would happen if Hayate did show romantic feelings for Nagi? Boom! All ships sunk! Well, I don't think Hata wants that to happen just yet as I'm speculating that the shippers (especially from other ships) form a very significant part of the manga's fanbase and to sink all ships would be suicide for the manga itself... but that's just a THEORY. A manga theory! (Imagine that in MatPat's voice)

This will not end well.

Moving on, if you think that it would be hard/implausible to make it happen (Hayate developing romantic feelings for Nagi) at some point given the developments in this manga, I would argue that the whole manga has been about setting the stage for exactly that to happen, but I won't explain too much here since people will just try to understand things based on their own perception anyway; instead, here's counter-argument number 1: http://www.jaded-perspectives.com/2013/08/hayate-combat-butler-final-chapter.html

Counter argument number 2: http://www.jaded-perspectives.com/2015/03/sore-ga-ai-deshou-hayate-combat-butler.html

And I could think up a few scenarios off the top of my head as well such as:

Scenario 1:
Hayate: I've always thought that I was the one protecting her... but, I was wrong. All this time, I as always the one being protected. That's why, I want to protect her smile... so that no one can ever make her cry again. (cheeessssy! but it works and it's not like cheesier lines have not been said before in this manga.) 

Scenario 2:
Hayate: I think I know realize when it was exactly... when my luck started to change. It was on Christmas Eve when I first met you guys.

Maria: Ara... isn't that the night when you said that Santa didn't give you a present?

Hayate: Yes, but you see, I was wrong about that Maria...

Maria: So Santa did give you a present? 

Hayate: Of course... that's why my luck started to change.

Maria: Come to think of it, that child has always had amazing luck... almost like the complete opposite of you... oh...

Hayate: It took me a long time to realize it, but she... has always been my lucky charm. So I guess you could say that meeting her was the best Christmas present I ever got.

Hayate: The truth is that... I want to stay with her...and not as her butler but still...

Maria: (sighs) You know, Hayate-kun. Three years isn't such a big thing. Just think about it this way, while it might seem like an insurmountable gap right now, in a few years time, the age difference between you two will be completely insignificant... so until that time comes... perhaps, you could be her loyal butler for just a little while longer?

Hayate: (smiles)

Maria: (I guess he's already made his decision).

In short, it's very easy to write a plausible scenario for making Hayate look like he's developed/has feelings for Nagi using the elements that have already been set in place in the current manga. In fact, it takes just a single line such as Hayate thinking/saying, "I see... I like her," at the end of an emotional arc.

Fanart Corner: I've been really into a particular artist's (who also happens to draw NSFW doujin) works lately since this person just draws Nagi so very well... better than Hata-sensei himself, IMO.

Anyway, I tried to copy this artist's style for this piece. Especially the eyes. I stuck with hard shading though. The outfit that Nagi is wearing here is one that she wore during the comiket arc. I think it was the one she wore when she saw Hayate hugging Ruka in chapter 413. I took the liberty of adding the print on the shirt myself. LOLICON IS JUSTICE! Huzzah! Oh and by the way, this is an animated gif. She blinks!