ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Chapter 374
Hayate the Combat Butler Manga Chapter 374

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

KATSURA Yukiji-sensei is in school’s night duty room, where she lives rent free, when the substitute chairman, Kirika, stops by.  Seeing the trashed state of the room, she decides that Yukiji needs to star paying ¥40,000 a month in rent.

Meanwhile, Hina is discussing with Hayate about the cheap ¥40,000 rent at Nagi’s apartment, which also includes food, water, utilities, and butler service. Yukiji bursts in, wanting in on this deal.  She throws a tantrum when she learns there’s no room, so Hina gets her older sister to explain what happened. As Katsura cries, Hina tells Hayate that they need to put an end to this.  As such, she proposes they help clean up the night duty room so that Kirika will forgive the rent.

Seeing the trashed state of the room, Yukiji tells Hayate and Hina that she always throws out the stuff that rots and that she puts on clean underwear. Hayate starts on a pile of trash, where photos of a younger Yukiji with long hair sit. Hayate cannot believe the photos of such an attractive young woman aren’t faked despite being photos. He compares the images to how cute Hina is now, but seeing how Yukiji turned out, Hayate feels disillusioned. Hina demands Hayate not view cute girls in such a negative light based on her sister’s horrible example.

Hayate then finds photos of Yukiji with a guitar and notes this to Hina.  Hina tells him that Yukiji used to dream of being a musician.

Thoughts/Review:

Well now, well now.  The formerly anime-only character of KUZUHA Kirika shows up for a second time in the manga. I never cared for her character in the anime, but she could be mildly interesting in the manga, especially since Yukiji addressed her as “Kirika-senpai.”  That suggests that they went to school together, especially considering this chapter looks at a teenage Yukiji.

One thing the series has long stated is that at one time, Yukiji was a bright student.  During the time when Yukiji’s and Hina’s parents dumped their debt on their daughters, Yukiji was the one to keep the young Hina alive. Further, she was the one who managed to get themselves adopted by one of Yukiji’s teachers and his wife.

At the same time, the reason that Kaoru fell in love with Yukiji in high school was not only because she was a babe, but because she was attentive and took an interest in his otaku hobby.

The manga has also long stated Yukiji was an aspiring musician.  She was even shown playing her guitar when she and Hina lived on the streets.  When she and Kaoru went on their trip together, she did speak of why she quit playing the guitar.  I recently learned that Ayumu’s tutor is implied to be Yukiji, something the Viz translation removes by using a gender pronoun.  The Japanese text has Ayumu refer to her tutor in gener-neutral terms, but her description matches Yukiji — played the guitar well, sucked at teaching.

Regardless, Yukiji was certainly a go-getter in the past.  As such, I’m rather hoping this chapter starts an arc that explores Yukiji’s past further, including Kaoru, and including her and Hina’s time after they were forced to live on the streets.  That would be of great interest to me.

We’ll see if I get my wish.  Hata-sensei is notorious for only dropping tidbits here and there rather than go ahead and give us more details.