ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Chapter 402

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Nagi is at the rest stop, wondering what she’ll do since the bus went ahead and left after Nagi decided not to get on to see what would happen. With ¥23,000 to her name, she figures she can take a taxi to Hakodate. Unfortunately, there are no taxis around, nor are there any other cars. Nagi begins walking down the highway toward Hakodate, which is in the southern part of the Hokkaido prefecture.

Ten minutes later, there’s still no car and she wishes she’d purchased a beverage to bring with her. A few hours later, the sun is setting and Nagi is still walking. She asks herself why she’s doing this, not knowing if it is to make a good manga, win the doujinshi contest, or prevent Ruka from marrying Hayate. Nagi doesn’t even know why she’s still walking, reflecting on how Hayate always supported her whenever she needed.

Seven hours later, the exhausted Nagi sees the moon and thinks about Hayate, thanking him in her mind for all he’s done for her. She decides that if she dies, she’s OK with Hayate and Ruka being together if it makes them happy.

Nine hours and 38 minutes later, Nagi trips and falls, unable to get up. She then realizes there’s a vending machine up ahead, so she gets up to go to it, only to discover that it does not take bills. Nagi is angry over this turn of events, deciding she’s just going to break into the vending machine. However, a woman puts in change and buys a beverage. Nagi looks at the young woman and her fancy car, then asks to be given a lift to Kyoto.

Thoughts/Review:

This was a pretty serious chapter, but one that had to be done to get Nagi to that next level.

Nagi’s decision to walk down to Hakodate from Shizukari (probably some 70 miles following the highway, which hugs the coast around Uchiura Bay) is certainly unexpected. I find it interesting that for the first time when she’s been in trouble, she did not call out for Hayate to help her, but rather thanked him in her mind for all he’d done for her, then accepted the idea of Ruka being with Hayate.  So in that regard, Nagi is showing a bit of maturity.

While on the unexpected element, we are possibly being introduced to a new character, even if only for a brief time, with the woman in the luxury car who stopped at the vending machine. Of course, Hata-sensei could decide to just have the woman arrive in Kyoto with Nagi, or he could have them travel, allowing Nagi to further reflect on why she’s doing this by bouncing it off of the woman. I’d kinda like to see that be the way Hata-sensei goes, but we’ll see.

So, Hina and Chiharu are already in Kyoto. Kayura was on the bus to Hakodate, but that would have reached its destination hours before Nagi encountered this woman. Isumi could be anywhere, including showing up at Nagi’s side at a moment’s notice. Ah-tan and Maria are headed out to get to Kyoto.  Hayate is with Ruka at Yukari-chan House. Ayumu should be working, but spending the night at Yukari-chan House.

As an aside, it looks like the Shizukari parking area (rest area) that Nagi got stuck at is slightly modified from the real one. Granted, I couldn’t find many images for it, and most of those were identical, but the images I saw didn’t have the bench to sit on. I figure Hata-sensei took some artistic license to extend the rest area building to accommodate a bench.

We’ve got two weeks to wait for the next chapter.