Chapter 24

'''Hayate no Gotoku! Chapter 24:''' I Lost My Temper and Did It Because I Was Mortified About Losing to Little Kids on the Street. But, I Have no Regrets (街中で子供に負けたのが悔しくてついカッとなってやった. でも後悔はしていない)

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * 1) Hayate Ayasaki
 * 2) Nagi Sanzenin
 * 3) Maria
 * 4) Sakuya Aizawa
 * 5) Makita
 * 6) Kunieda

Summary
Hayate discovers a Mushiking arcade machine in the mansion. He asks Nagi about it, and she reveals that she bought a couple of them due to their popularity. Hayate breaks the fourth wall by asking if it's alright for them to be writing "Mushiking" without blanking out characters. Nagi says that they were granted permission to use the name. Nagi then challenges Hayate to a match, to which he reluctantly agrees.

After the match, Nagi, in an aggressive state, calls Hayate an idiot, and she storms out, drawing the attention of Maria. Maria enters the room the machine was in, where she finds Hayate lying on the ground, with some debris from a shattered vase surrounding him. He explains that after the duel with Wataru, he thought it would be a bad idea to intentionally win against Nagi, since such a false victory would make her angry, so he went all out. Maria, slightly annoyed by Nagi's behavior once again, says that the result would have been the same if he won or not. She questions why Nagi is as weak as she seems, since she's smart, and Maria figures that should make her stronger. Hayate says that they had played several rounds, and for some reason his luck was with him, allowing him to win all of them.

Sakuya appears out of nowhere, telling them to start worrying, since it's hard to change her mood once she starts sulking. Sakuya tells Hayate that as a butler, it's probably better for him to flatter her. She then offers to teach him the ways in which he could capture a girls heart. Hayate sarcastically says that it would probably be better to learn the ways of capturing a child's heart, annoying Sakuya, who punches him. Sakuya drags him away, while Maria realizes that she's once again the one who's going to have to clean up after their messes.

Sakuya starts explaining about the three types of popular guys, but she actually mentions four. When Hayate asks about this, she hits him with her signature paper fan, and tells him not to care about the minor details. She then asks him if he wants to become a likable person, to which he answers yes, given that he seems to have been hated a lot lately. Sakuya calls him an incompetent butler, and summons Makita and Kunieda to demonstrate what a true butler should be able to do. They appear and almost instantly prepare a fancy tea service for Sakuya, to Hayate's amazement. She explains though that executing such a high level technique isn't something that can be learned quickly, so she simply offers to help him console Nagi.

Nagi asks Maria where Hayate has gotten off to. Maria explains that Sakuya took Hayate away to help cheer her up. Nagi gets slightly annoyed that he's spending time with Sakuya, realizing that since school will be starting soon, they won't have time to play in the afternoon. Maria approaches her and tells her that if she feels this way, she shouldn't start sulking from losing a few games. Nagi instantly gets defensive again, insisting that she didn't lose any of the games. Sakuya then appears, and says that Sanzenin family members should never accept defeat. Sakuya challenges Nagi to a game, and she announces that if she wins, she'll have Hayate become her butler. Nagi accepts, and they start playing. After a little bit, Nagi offers to have a revenge match with Hayate, to which he agrees. However, Sakuya and Nagi never stop playing, leaving him out. He makes a joke about how he seems to be hated by everyone, to the annoyance of both Sakuya and Nagi.