SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
At Yukari-chan House, Kayura tells Ruka the story of a new idol who held a concert event at a supermarket for their re-opening ceremony. The concert was terrible as the stage was cheaply made, the music was from a cassette player, and the only ones there were a few old people. Kayura felt the idol was sad and shabby, but the idol gave it her all, which affected Kayura. After the concert, the idol shook everyone's hand and gave them a signed poster. When it was Kayura's turn, she noticed the idol's faint smile mixed with bitterness. Thus, Kayura realized the idol wasn't happy with her situation and had been lying and wasn't good at it.
Thus, Kayura tells Ruka to not draw lies since she's bad at lying, Ruka having been the idol in Kayura's story. Ruka demands to know what Kayura means. Kayura says it something Kayura can't let go of and hands Ruka back the storyboard.
The next morning, Kayura tells Chiharu that she and Ruka will be heading to Rainbow Village to finish Ruka's manuscript since having two rivals under the same roof isn't a good thing. She tells Chiharu to tell Nagi "good luck."
Maria checks in on the ailing Ayumu, who has a fever. Ayumu wonders if she's going to die, but Maria assures her she won't die, but she needs to be checked out, so Maria arranges to have her taken to the hospital.
Meanwhile, Chiharu comes in to help Nagi, finding her in the early stages of getting sick. Nagi is concerned over her lack of progress since she could lose Hayate. Nagi asks how Ruka is doing, to which Chiharu answers that Ruka has had a breakthrough and is making progress. With that, Nagi returns to working on her manga.
Elsewhere, Hina, Hayate, and Kurosu arrive in Hokkaido.
Thoughts/Review:
I'm glad that Hata-sensei isn't worrying a great deal about forcing gags into the chapters of late. Sure, there was something humorous about Ayumu being ill (even though being sick is never funny) and something humorous about Hayate coming out of a Lamborghini trunk. But this doesn't feel like, "MUST TELL GAG JOKES" that sometimes Hata-sensei comes off as doing.
I need to go back and read Kayura's first displayed meeting with Ruka to see if Kayura shows any signs of having met Ruka before or even being her fan. I don't have a problem if Kayura's story in this chapter is a retcon, but I'm just curious to know, especially since Kayura hung up in her room the signed poster of Ruka from that early concert
The lie Kayura speaks of is Ruka's whole life to date as well as her love. The idol lifestyle was forced on Ruka, so she did what she could to be good at it, though clearly, in those early days, she had a hard time being completely successful at hiding the bitterness she felt about having this lifestyle forced on her. That has never ended, thanks to Ruka's decision to not quit being an idol in order to do the responsible thing and pay off the debt she owes, thanks to her worthless parents.
The other element in Ruka's manga is the love aspect, where her heroine finds happiness in love. While Ruka may be in love with Hayate, she hasn't found happiness yet. For starters, Hayate doesn't love her in a romantic way. He cares about her, just as he cares about a lot of girls. But that's a long way from romantic love. Even if he did love her, they'd have a tough life together, both of them being so saddled with debt.
Regardless, it will be interesting to see what changes Ruka makes to her manga.
Also interesting is that Kurosu took Hina and Hayate to Hokkaido, Kayura's home town. I didn't remember Ruka being from there, but it would explain her being at a concert years earlier for a supermarket there. I'm really curious as to what might still be here that could make Ruka happy.
As an aside, Hina makes an interesting choice to go up to Hokkaido with Hayate and Kurosu. I say this because I wonder if Hata-sensei will try to use this as an opportunity to explore Hina's backstory a little more. I'm currently (and VERY slowly) rereading the Viz manga releases of Hayate the Combat Butler. One of the remarks Hata-sensei said back when Hina and Yukiji were introduced was his desire to tell their whole debt story, since he'd already done the groundwork to tell said story (which I believe was for an earlier manga concept). I know we've seen bits and pieces of that story, including a glimpse of how Yukiji did whatever it took to pay off the debt, but I'd like to see it actually drawn out in more detail, even if it takes several chapters to do so.
So, some interesting things happening in this chapter. I really hope Hata-sensei continues to press forward with actual story and doesn't go, "Oh no! Must do one shot gag chapters to waste time!"
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