ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Chapter 368
Hayate the Combat Butler Manga Chapter 368

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Ayumu gets her room key from Nagi and finds the confidence to not be awed by Ruka’s idol status. Instead, Ayumu boldly introduces herself to Ruka, going so far as to skip the normal politeness stage, and have Ruka address her as “Ayumu” and Ayumu address Ruka by her given name, to which Ruka agrees. All of this has Nagi wondering why Ayumu is looking down on Ruka.

Meanwhile, Ah-tan suggest not revealing to the others that there’s a secret, inaccessible room in the apartment house. Isumi literally comes flying into the storeroom from the outside, explaining after landing that she had been requested to help protect the apartment house from scandals and such since Ruka is living there. Since Isumi notices the strange aura of the building, Hayate asks if she can remove the barrier to the hidden room. Isumi confirms she can, but she’s more interested in why Chairman Tennousu is so small.

Isumi notices the dog-shaped spy device in a tree outside and destroys it before returning to the barrier. Father Radiostar wonders if they’ll find a corpse or two inside, but before Hayate can stop Isumi, she’s removed the barrier. Father Radiostar passes through the wall as Tama finds another way in. Father Radiostar beats a hasty retreat from the room, so Hayate and Tama head in via the revealed door. The fomerly sealed off area contains the sarcophagus/large coffin from the Royal Garden.

Thoughts/Review:

When I saw the dog in the tree, I thought, “Why is there a dog in the tree?” *lol*  Isumi gave the answer in her normal style, by destroying the spy device of the unidentified woman.

Seriously, words cannot describe the sheer awesomeness of Isumi as a character. I think back to the time early on in the manga when Hayate and Nagi were in the underground area, about to be overrun by rats, when Isumi shows up and simply shows the rats an ofuda, and they decide to take off rather than be punished from the spell strip. Here, Isumi’s unorthodox method of travel, her dispatching the spy device, her removing the barrier that was beyond Ah-tan’s power, all the while taking time to notice the changes in Athena just makes me love the character that much more. ^_^

I still don’t know why Athena turned into a child again to become the Ah-tan of size (and apparently, age) that Hayate knew as a kid. I’ve only read up through where Hayate has rescued Athena, and she’s still a young adult.

Father Radiostar’s jokes about finding a corpse or two would seem to be prophetic in light of the coffin/sarcophagus from the Royal Garden being in the house.  I get the feeling the this really hasn’t been addressed since Athena’s rescue, but I’ll try to take more time to catch up reading, especially since there aren’t any new anime titles I’m doing now.

As for Ayumu, I actually grinned at her attitude to Ruka.  Ruka is a famous idol, so if it simply takes a key to give Ayumu the confidence to stand on par with Ruka, then so be it.  Beyond that, Ayumu wanting to go right passed the honorifics aspect that is normally demanded when two Japanese people meet each other makes me grin too.  After all, when Hina wanted Ayumu to address her as “Hinagiku,” Ayumu’s compromise was “Hina-san,” even though Hina addresses her as “Ayumu.”

I’m loving this new story arc on multiple levels. Can’t wait to see what else happens.