ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Chapter 383
Hayate the Combat Butler Manga Chapter 383

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

As Ruka kisses Hayate on the lips, he considers the fact that this is the first girl other than Ah-tan that he is kissing.  Ruka tells Hayate that this was her first time kissing a boy.  She confesses her love to Hayate and asks if he’ll go out with her. Before he can answer, she coughs up blood, forcing Hayate to put her to bed.

At Mikado’s massive castle-mansion, Nagi pays her ailing grandfather a visit.  He states that he can’t die until he’s taken care of this inheritance business, plus he wants to see the seiyuu-singer Yukarin’s summer concert, which Nagi suspects is the real reason Mikado doesn’t want to die. Mikado asks if Hayate is with Nagi, so she tells him that Hayate is at the Rainbow Village.

Elsewhere, Chiharu and Ayumu have followed Isumi to what she claims is the Rainbow Village, but it turns out to be the apartment-house instead. Chiharu wants Isumi to lead them back, but then realizes that Isumi can’t be trusted. Ayumu can’t reach Hayate’s cell phone, so Chiharu calls Sakuya, who lets them know that the Rainbow Village is in Hachiouji. The place turns out to be an onsen resort, meaning the cabin that Ruka and Hayate are in is unknown. Chiharu doesn’t think they have to worry since it is Hayate, buy Ayumu strongly disagrees.

Back at the cabin, Hayate ponders events when Ruka gets up from bed and wants an answer to her question. Hayate tries the “I’m into 2D girls” excuse he used on Ayumu, but Ruka isn’t buying that. So, Hayate says that he’s a butler and must protect a girl. As such, he cannot be anyone’s boyfriend.  This leads Ruka to ask if he weren’t a butler, would it be OK.

Thoughts/Review:

So, Ruka gets her confession out on top of kissing Hayate. I had to laugh at Hayate’s thought process, remembering all the times he’d kissed Athena.  Plus, it was funny having Athena’s presence there, sarcastically praising him for kissing an idol. *lol*

Still, as expected, Hayate turned her down. I also laughed at how he tried using the 2D excuse that had briefly worked with Ayumu. Her followup question puts Hayate in the hot seat for sure. If he answers that he would date her if he weren’t a butler, I’m sure that would make her very happy, but what of Ayumu (to say nothing of the others)? Also, how does that change their current relationship?  If he answers in the negative, that too has implications. She may no longer feel comfortable around Hayate, thus killing their friendship.  It’ll be interesting to see where Hata-sensei goes, especially since the new anime has Ruka back as an idol.

Isumi’s getting lost was more amusing this time since she managed to get Chiharu and Ayumu lost with her. I suppose they should count themselves lucky that she didn’t lead them to another continent.

Mikado does seem genuinely concerned that he might not live long enough to resolve the whole inheritance issue, which obviously is tied in with King Midas. The problem with Hata-sensei’s slow moving plots is that they sometimes move too slowly. I’d kinda like Hata-sensei to push the story forward more.

In the end, this was a humorous chapter that actually makes small advances on two story fronts.