Hayate the Combat Butler Ep. 48
ハヤテのごとく！Episode 48

SPOILER Summary: Its nearly Hina’s birthday and her mother wonders if she’ll be inviting a boy over since she’s at the age to have a boyfriend. This naturally gets Hina a bit worked up and she finds herself thinking of Hayate. At school the next day, seeing Hayate causes Hina to get flustered and flee. Hayate thinks he’s done something to anger her and is depressed, leading Nagi to wonder why he’s already depressed when he hasn’t even taken an exam yet. In the classroom, it is exam time and Hina finds what appears to be a love letter in her desk. She suddenly begins to think it might by Hayate. Meanwhile Hayate has a similar letter in his desk and he thinks it might be from Hina, asking to meet him at the school’s dojo.

After Nagi takes off with Wataru to study at Isumi’s house, Hayate finds he has free time and decides to go to the dojo, figuring that it couldn’t be Hina. However, when he finds Hina there waiting under a blossoming sakura tree, he’s excited. Hina sees him and feels the same, but then they realize that they both received letters but never sent one. From the top of the sakura is Azumamiya, who summoned them both. Hayate refers to him as a background character which causes Azumamiya to fall out of the tree, clearly annoyed. He’s decided to challenge Hayate and according to his butler, has been training for 2.5 seasons just for this. Taiga and his butler are in a nearby tree and Taiga’s butler feels this is a good thing.

Because Hayate refuses to acknowledge that he thought his pink, heart-filled letter was from Hina (and for which he’s very irritated with Azumamiya for) combined with him insulting her feminine side, she abandons him to face the challenge alone. Hayate wonders what technique Azumamiya has developed, especially since Azumamiya tosses away his shinai weapon (wooden sword). His secret technique is to challenge Hayate to a game of ayatori (cat’s cradle). That’s because if he can’t beat Hayate with kendo, beat him with something else. So, Hayate defeats him in one take. At the urging of his butler, Azumamiya is told to rise up and challenge again, so he does, this time challenging the younger, smaller Taiga.

Hina is angry for thinking that the letter had been from Hayate and throws it out. At home, she can’t concentrate on her homework so she heads out for a bit. She runs into Hayate, who apologizes to her for apparently making her angry before. The two decide to have coffee together before doing some window shopping and going to a game center, where Hina attempts to play the “UFO Catcher” game to win a stuffed animal (dog). She doesn’t succeed and Hayate again accidentally insults her feminine side and refuses to acknowledge he thought the pink challenge letter was from her. She confesses she thought her letter was from him before she rushes off and ends up at a park bench where she stops to contemplate things.

She sees a kitten stuck in a tree and so goes to rescue it. She recalls being stuck in a tree herself and having to be rescued by Hayate. She manages to rescue the kitten, but a snapped branch ultimately causes her to fall out of the tree. Remembering Hayate’s promise to come when she called, she calls for him and he catches her, as he promised. He reveals the dog stuffed animal she’d wanted and gives it to her. He walks her part way home and upon parting company, she’s all excited and happy with her present while Hayate is depressed. His depression shows at Nagi’s mansion where she notes it and asks if his test results were bad. He says that’s not the problem , but that he had some unexpected expenses. Maria asks what Nagi wants to give Hina for her forthcoming birthday, which Nagi leaves to Maria. Hayate hears about the birthday and weakly states that maybe he should get Hina something too, which does not set will with Nagi. For her part, Hina is at home, loving her new stuffed animal very much.

Thoughts: A good episode if you are a Hina fan. It was nice I guess, though I didn’t miss the two idiot butlers and their supposed masters. *_*

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