Hayate the Combat Butler Ep. 46
ハヤテのごとく！Episode 46

SPOILER Summary: Wataru is walking down the street, oblivious to thinks like a man walking his dog, while the dog “walks” on a beach ball and gets the shock of his life when he sees Isumi in a school uniform at a bus stop. He “borrows” a telephone pole to spy on her and is shocked when he sees her get onto a bus without hesitation. He attempts to get on the bus but the narrator reminds him to put the pole back, so he misses the bus and is very frustrated. He races over to Nagi’s house to tell her. She has several theories about it, including it being an illusion, but he’s not buying it and leaves. Hayate and Maria pop through the fake window at Nagi’s desk because they think she went a bit too far, but she enjoyed messing with Wataru.

At the video store, Wataru is in a state of shock and Saki continues to find misplaced videos and DVD’s. Saki decides to try to get to the bottom of this, and after tripping, she falls in front of Hayate. They go to a coffee shop (like Starbucks) and talk, where Saki gets depressed, thinking that maybe because she’s now 20, she’s too old. They see Wataru walk by in a daze to a bus stop. Using a couple of phone poles, Saki and Hayate spy on Wataru as he remembers the school that Isumi’s uniform belonged to. He gets on a bus, with Hayate and Saki getting on in secret, where they travel to Hayate’s former high school, Wataru’s destination. Wataru gets off while Saki and Hayate eject out.

Saki is torn about Wataru’s desperation to get to Isumi. In the end, she confronts him as he attacks the front gate. She has a map from Hayate, which shows a tear in the fence, which they don’t find. However, Nishizawa appears and recognizing Wataru, she reveals the tear to allow him and Saki through. She gives them a tour of her ordinary school, where they soon come upon two, large, thug students (“A” and “B”) who are part of a vicious gang, but love animals. They also see a female gang leader. All the things they see, Nishizawa says is just a normal thing for their school. She then leaves them to get some more food.

Meanwhile, Isumi is first in gym class doing gymnastics as Wataru and Saki begin their search. Isumi is then in the synchronized swimming class, obviously looking for something. At the baseball diamond, Wataru sees Isumi, dressed in traditional Japanese school P.E. class gear, working as the manager to the baseball club (complete with yellow teapot). He observes that her gaze is locked on one guy with a picture over his face as a mask and the word “senpai” on his back. He demands to know what that’s all about, so Saki has to explain to him about the clichéd concept of the girl in love having a towel for the one she loves (who’s in a grade above her) so she can say, “Senpai, please use this to wipe off your sweat.” This is the nightmare scenario for Wataru.

Meanwhile, Hayate runs into Nishizawa, who’s walking and eating. She’s happy and nervous that Hayate is there, wondering if he came to see her. They have some faltering starts at conversation before Nishizawa reveals that the school has strange goings on and that there’s apparently a curse regarding a dead manager. Hayate realizes that such a thing would draw out Isumi and so leaves to find her. Nishizawa is depressed because she now knows that Hayate didn’t come to see her.

Back on the baseball diamond, Isumi comes up to her senpai with the white towel. However, a well suddenly appears behind Senpai and a ghost emerges, vowing not to let anyone else wipe off Senpai’s sweat. The ghost is surprised that Isumi can see her, but more surprised when Isumi offers to allow the ghost to enter her so that the ghost, through Isumi, can wipe the sweat off Senpai’s brow. The ghost agrees and enters Isumi, but before the wiping can begin, Wataru rushes onto the field and challenges Senpai to a one-pitch dual (having been encouraged to do so by Saki), the winner gets their brow wiped by Isumi. Senpai agrees as the ghost demands to know what’s going on. Isumi doesn’t have an answer.

Wataru puts everything he has into the pitch, but Senpai knocks it out of the field. Defeated like Joe (from the boxing anime), Wataru falls, but tells Saki he has no regrets. Isumi, ala the ghost, wipes Senpai’s brow and the ghost is now able to pass on. Isumi collapses and is picked up and carried by Hayate as Saki picks up and carries Wataru. Hayate says he’ll take Isumi home, but she stops him. Wataru tries to say something but can’t, so Isumi thanks him for the workout and the two have a moment, for which Saki is happy. Saki tells Wataru how proud she is of him as they walk home. Hayate reports the situation to Nagi when he gets home.

Thoughts: Just what the smeg does that yellow teapot represent anyway? I’ve seen it a few times in anime, the first time being Full Metal Panic ~Fumoffu~. Otherwise, there were some nice laughs here with the silly humor (the telephone poles, ejecting from a bus, the gang members, and more).

I feel bad for Nishizawa though. Poor girl. No chance with Hayate.

References! (Note: the site doesn’t get 100% of the references, but they do get a very high percentage…most of the time.)