天涯孤独 – tengai kodoku

Might post about this every now and then, as it’s one of the manga I actually must keep up with.

Note that there are major spoilers, so don’t read if you aren’t close to this far into the series and hate being spoiled.

When we last left our unlucky hero, he was pondering the most difficult choice of his life; to protect Nagi’s fortune, which was the only thing allowing her to live her life as she was; or to rescue Athena, the girl he had loved since he was a child, from the great spirit that has taken up residence with her.  Either protect the stone pendant he was given, give it to Athena to appease the spirit so it can be separated from Athena, or let Isumi destroy it…

At this point in the story, Hayate has slipped away from the last party in Greece to ponder on his situation alone.  However, Nagi has followed him, and they have a private chat…

Nagi actually surprised me here.  Sometimes you forget because she’s just a child (and is selfish, capricious, etc.), but she’s not a genius for no reason.  She already has a good idea of why Hayate has been depressed lately, even if she has no idea about Hayate and Athena’s relationship.  Most of this page (and the ones leading up to it) were innocent topics by Nagi.  She describes how she was told the stone is a stone of the stars, to test relationships… then, the bottom panels:

Nagi: “Hey, Hayate.”
Hayate: “Yes…?”
Nagi: “Is it this stone’s fault?”

This actually sent a bit of a shiver down my spine. ^^

Note: read these next two right to left.

No translation necessary here.  Nagi doesn’t want to see Hayate suffering, even if it means she loses her inheritance… while I’m not a big fan of pairing Hayate and Nagi together (I much prefer Athena and Hinagiku, though it’s too late for the latter), Nagi certainly holds her own.  Hayate is the one who necessarily reacts to this, shouting that money has allowed Nagi her lifestyle, has given her power, and, most importantly, protects her.

Nagi:  From here on… Hayate, you protect me.

Again, I’m not a big Nagi fan, but this is a great line.  I’m a little sad that this probably means the Nagi flag has been raised and Hayate can no longer load a quick save to visit any of the other heroine’s paths, but one should really have expected this.  With the stone out of the way (maybe; there are others…), it seems like we might come to a conclusion for this series soon.  I do believe the writer did mention a number of chapters back that there were only two or so major arcs left, so expect the pace to keep up. ^^