June 19th, 2015 
AstroNerdBoy ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 497 Review
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Hina notices that someone has given up, leading Izumi and Risa to believe it has to be Aika. Aika slaughters the spiders in the cabin, but then hears a loud animal noise outside.
Hayate has Kotetsu bound, promising to let him go once Hayate has finished his task. Nagi asks if he’s really going to do this, which Hayate confirms. He knows which floors have the survivors and which ones have the dropouts. As such, he’s going to start with the two other survivors on their floor — Azumamiya and Chiharu.
Hayate uses the ventilation to get into Azumamiya’s room. He finds the guy sleeping, so he takes his hand to push the button on his completer when Azumamiya wakes up. Hayate knocks him out and pushes his completer. Hina notices the survivor number drop again and realizes that someone is pushing other player’s buttons.
Hayate enters Chiharu’s room, where he discovers she’s not sleeping. Looking for something to watch, she does the free, short time porn trial. She gets worked up and so has to take a shower. Hayate realizes he’s in a dangerous position since she could call the cops. Hayate decides he’ll leave the room and try again later. Before he can escape, Hina drops by for a visit, looking for the person pushing the button on the completer.
Thoughts/Review:
Har! I couldn’t help but laugh at Aika slaughtering spiders. Well, that’s the only way to take care of a problem like that.
So now we see Hayate’s plan, which wasn’t to end the contest per se, but remove all the other contestants. I got a laugh out of Hayate’s encounter with Azumamiya.
Hayate’s encounter with Chiharu was amusing, since he had to keep hidden as she decided to look at the porn previews and take a shower.
Then there’s Hina. It isn’t surprising that she figured out that someone was pushing other people’s completer buttons. I presume the only reason she went to Chiharu’s room was because Azumamiya is on the same floor as Chiharu. I figure she suspects Hayate because he and Nagi are also on this floor.
So, does Hayate use a trick to get Chiharu and Hina out of this by pushing their completer button? I figure that Hina would use the threat of the cops against Hayate to stay in the contest, but she will help him knock out other competitors.
Finally, I note that the hotel they are staying at in South America is SANZENINN. Even though this hotel is in South America, it is using the kanji for “san” as its logo (三). That strongly implies that Nagi’s family owns the hotel, which would make sense as I think this trip is tied to the main plot.
Posted in 
Tags: 
The real question is: why would Nagi even need to pay to stay in her own hotel? (This question was originally asked by a friend, actually. My guess is that it’s because it’s an unwritten rule in this contest that they have to use the money provided for them via the cash cards) Hina’s expressions were quite amusing in this chapter.
Yes, I think you are spot on. How many ojousama girls are on this trip? Aika could easily pay for the trip with her own money, but the only access to money they have is through those cash cards. I think Hata-sensei should have explained this, but oh well.
When I first read your review, I was similarly inclined wrt Hina and Hayate teaming up in some fashion… it would be fun to see. (I still think so, actually.) But the more I think about it, I believe she’s too much of a straight arrow for it. Put me down for Hina lecturing the heck out of Hayate, probably obliquely (i.e. explaining to Chiharu how wrong the unknown perpetrator is for doing this), but forgiving him and letting him go (i.e. by distracting Chiharu so he can escape).
I think it could very easily become a turning point in their relationship. Partly because I’m registered crew on the JDS Hina x Hayate, of course… but it also sorta reminds me of some of the turning points in Maison Ikkoku.
The biggest hitch is that I really don’t know what to make of Hina’s expression in the last panel.
Man, it has been so long since I read Maison Ikkoku, I don’t remember the turning points. ^_^;;;
The way I saw it, I felt she knew Hayate was here and was going to bluff about turning him in, but then agree to work with him.
It probably didn’t help that I wasn’t completely sure why it reminded me of MI. (^_^);
After ruminating on it a bit, I think it’s this: Most manga relationships (imo most relationships period, but seldom as exaggerated as in the average manga) seem to begin with seriously-unrealistic expectations and/or idealization of the beloved. To survive, both have to accept each other as real people who have issues, make mistakes that range from dumb to willful, and have problems of their own making and/or others’.
The more Godai and Kyouko had to deal with each others’ issues, mistakes, and problems, the closer they grew. Some of the examples that come to mind are his allergy to saying ‘No’ and the multitude of problems it causes, the day of the omiai and the night after when she finally put her foot down with Mitaka instead of being easily swayed, the grifting tenants, Yagami, etc.
In the same way, if Hina takes this opportunity to scold Hayate a bit for how ruthless he’s starting to get on behalf of Nagi, Hayate genuinely reflects on it, Hina learns to be a little more flexible (imo, one area where she’s already grown a lot), etc… at the very least they’ll be better friends and people. At least that’s how I see it.
What you say makes sense. We’ll see how Hata-sensei decides to play it though.
i lol’ed at the Sanzen-Inn XD
Yeah, that made me smile when I saw it. 🙂