ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Manga
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 555 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

It is October 31 when Nagi turns in her manga, accompanied by Chiharu. Chiharu wonders if Nagi will try to convince Maria to stay on as maid. Nagi says that won’t be possible now that Maria has made up her mind. Nagi isn’t worried since she has Hayate. Chiharu is going to say something when they are interrupted outside of Yukari-chan House by the rep from the redevelopment company.

Chiharu introduces Nagi to the man. He asks her if she’d be interested in erecting an apartment tower on the property. Since the apartment house on the property has character, it could stay. Nagi ponders tearing the place down since the memories made in the place would still be with her. The rep doesn’t think this is the right course of action. After their chat, the rep hands Nagi his business card once her mind is made up. Chiharu asks if Nagi will tear down the apartment house. Nagi hasn’t decided, but since her mom always wanted to build an apartment tower, Nagi could make her wish come true.

Elsewhere, Himegami stares intently at a locket with Yukariko’s photo inside. Hisui scolds him for looking so intently at a dead woman’s photo. She teases him about using his memories of Yukariko to open the path. Himegami tells her that he cannot open the path because he cannot touch a King’s Jewel.

Still elsewhere, Isumi and Sakuya are in the giant bath discussing Yukariko. Isumi recalls a party where she thought Yukariko was a god because the form of the goddess was with her. She wonders what Yukariko wished for since the Royal Power returned back to the Royal Garden. Isumi cannot imagine what Yukariko would wish for that would cost her life.

Back at Yukari-chan House, Nagi shows her determination to be a successful manga-ka by working on her next manga. As such, she asks Chiharu to go help her look for material. Hina and Chiharu notice how energetic Nagi is. Kayura feels that this energy is hollow.

Nagi trots through the woods, telling herself that she’ll be fine without Maria since she has Hayate. However, she’s very worried and as she looks at her King’s Jewel, she silently asks her mom if she’ll be OK. To Nagi’s astonishment, Yukariko shows up in front of her.

Thoughts/Review:

Well, Hayate the Combat Butler chapter 555 was certainly full of surprises. I’m glad the plot keeps getting pushed forward.

Priming Nagi for the Fall

The work to set Nagi up as the one to open the path to the Royal Garden continues. Maria is leaving Nagi’s service, so she’s already on edge. She totally believes Hayate is in love with her, so Hayate will never leave her. Yet Hayate has to feelings for Nagi. It is going to suck when the bomb goes off under Nagi’s feet. I like Nagi as a character and always have. She may not be my shipping character, but she’s always been fun and good at heart.

I wonder if something bad will happen with Nagi’s manga. She did turn it in, but it may be an utter failure. That would also help to bring on Nagi’s collapse.

The big thing is Yukariko showing up at the end there. Could it be that Nagi made a wish to see her mother and it has come true? Remember, the King’s Jewel’s are supposed to be a bond between loved ones. Might that somehow cause Nagi to fall? Remember when Nagi was a kid, Isumi ended up hurting Nagi really bad by trying to help Nagi and revealing Yukariko to her. Hata-sensei has always been cagey about that. I can see something like that happening now.

Of Wishes and Such

One bit of news that came from this chapter is that Himegami made a wish and had it granted. I wonder what he wished for. Could it have had something to do with Yukariko? Maybe Himegami (whether he’s actually Nagi’s father or not) loved Yukariko so much, he made a wish so that Yukariko could gain entry to the Royal Garden without the negative explosion of emotion.

Regardless, Himegami’s wish would seem to be like Athena’s in that the age penalty didn’t apply if the wish was made in the Royal Garden. (That is, assuming I’m remembering how things worked correctly.)

We know that Yukariko made a wish. We don’t yet know what that wish is. However, I think we now know why Yukariko died — the wish took off 50 years of her life. I had speculated that maybe Yukariko gave up 50 years of her life to save Orumuzuto. However, now I start to doubt that. The two most important people in Yukariko’s life would have been Nagi and her husband. We’ll see.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I have to quickly wrap this up since I’m way behind on things. (The curse of getting caught up playing Skyrim Special Edition since I had a little free time this holiday weekend.)

• Why does Himegami have Yukariko in a locket? Could this be a further clue that Himegami is actually possessed by Nagi’s father?
• In a wacky twist, could Hayate eventually be heading to the past to complete a circle, as he’s done before with Nagi?
• Will Nagi end up tearing down Yukari-chan House for an apartment tower?

In the end, Hayate the Combat Butler chapter 555 ended up being quite interesting. I’m really looking forward to the new chapter.