Ayumu Nishizawa

Ayumu Nishizawa (西沢 歩) is a girl from Hayate's previous high school. She is also known as "Nom-Nom-tan" (Nom Nom is an onomatopoeia for eating) in season 1, as she appears in every episode always eating something, while miraculously never getting fat or diseased.

Appearance
Ayumu has smoky hair in the manga and season 1, blue in Hayate no Gotoku! Volume 99 and dark blue in the later seasons of the anime which is tied in two pigtails and has olive green eyes. She is sometimes seen wearing a Shiomi High School uniform or wearing modern clothes.

Beginning
Ayumu is a girl from Hayate's school, Shiomi High School, from the time before he became a butler. She has had a crush on Hayate ever since their first meeting, but could never get the courage to confess while he was around at school. After one month, she sees him again for Hayate wasn't able to attend school due to his new job. She is happy when he paid his old school a visit and was glad that she was able to see him again. She violently lashes out at anyone who badmouths her and Hayate, including a teacher who called Hayate a dropout because his parents had refunded all his school fees the day Hayate was sold. Hayate, upon knowing what his parents did, accepted the truth and bid farewell to Ayumu but she couldn't accept it and confessed her feelings to Hayate. Shocked by her confession, Hayate thought of a way to escape the situation by saying that he was only intrested in 2-D girls after getting a vision of Nagi crying. Despite such failure, she is one of the few girls who has successfully confessed her love to Hayate, which often places her in awkward situations when she is alone with him.

First Meeting with Nagi Sanzenin at Sanzenin Estate
Not deterred by the rejection, Ayumu continues to go after Hayate which eventually lead her towards the Sanzenin Residence. When she saw Hayate enter the mansion grounds, she continued to follow and when she was about to enter, she is confronted by the SPs and was caught. Due to this, she concluded that Hayate is within the hands of dangerous Yakuza. Maria, who was asked by the SPs on what to do with the intruder, tells them to let go of her upon seeing her uniform. Despite this, Ayumu still thinks of them as dangerous people and ran away from them to find and escape with Hayate. During her search, she eventually found Hayate and learned that he's now a debt-ridden butler at the ultra-prosperous Sanzenin family's estate. Specifically, she found out that he's currently working as a butler of the young mistress of that huge mansion. During their talk, Nagi also ended up in that place and when both her and Ayumu first met, they instinctively knew that they would be rivals to fight over Hayate. In a delightful metaphorical stand-off scene, Nagi's avatar was a dragon and Ayumu was represented by a hamster which got eaten by the dragon. Ayumu retreated from the field that day but swore she'd bring "a stronger hamster avatar" next time. Ayumu later challenges Nagi to karaoke, only to lose but did not regret the time she spent with her. Even though Nagi is so rich, Ayumu insists on treating her out of her own pocket like she would any other friend.

Nagi staying at Ayumu's house (Anime only)
In one episode of the anime, when Nagi was brooding over how Hayate's taste in women leaned towards "the ordinary girl", she ended up staying at Ayumu's home to learn how to be "ordinary," as she felt that Ayumu was the most ordinary person she knew. Although Nagi was of great inconvenience, Ayumu did not chase her away and remained hospitable throughout the day. Later, she also stood up to defend Nagi when a giant monster turtle (formed as a byproduct of the strange artificial ecology in the Sanzenin estate's lake) loomed over them. Shaking with fear and armed only with a stick, she did not hesitate to stand for Nagi. Eventually, Hayate came in and scared the turtle off, saving both of them.

Giving Valentine's chocolate to Hayate
On Valentine's Day, she tried to confess her feelings to Hayate again and along the way to Hakuou, she met Hinagiku who helped her enter the school grounds. At first, she failed for she gave Hayate the obligation chocolate instead of the serious one but she was able to confess her feelings to Hayate when Hinagiku told Hayate to chase after Ayumu and have the chocolate switched. Due to this, Ayumu started to admire Hinagiku and told herself that if she could be like her, Hayate would have already fallen for her. Later in the series, she met Hinagiku again when Hayate temporarily stayed at Hinagiku's house. At first, she misunderstood the situation. But later the problem was solved. Later, she helped Hayate choose a present for Hinagiku at her birthday.

Shimoda Arc
Due to a mysterious meteorite being rumored to have mystical effects that was shown on TV, Ayumu decided to go to the Izu Peninsula on her bicycle, convinced that she would arrive there by evening. Along the way, she encounters Nagi in an unknown Russian ramen restaurant and finds out that she is lost after getting separated from Hayate and Maria along the way to Izu. Due to them going to the same destination, Ayumu offers Nagi a ride towards there on her bicycle.

Along the way, they were confronted by a group of armed people in a car looking for a girl with twin ponytails. Since both of them appeared to have one, the unknown people have decided to kill them both which made Ayumu go full speed in driving her bicycle. At first, they were able to out-speed those chasing them but in the end Ayumu's strength is not enough to overcome them again. Before they were caught up, Hayate arrived with the help of Ginka after convincing her that he will give his blood to Isumi if she helps her rescue Nagi. As a result, the unknown people are taken care of by Ginka as Hayate, Ayumu and Nagi headed towards the train station to meet the others.

At the train station, all of them have reunited but they haven't reached their destination as of yet and Ayumu has decided to still get there by bike. Due to Nagi knowing that Ayumu's bike is precious to her, she orders Hayate to escort Ayumu and drive her bike to Izu. It was settled by then and Hayate along with Ayumu has gone of towards Izu in a bike and due to an encounter with a couple in a race car, they have decided to out-speed it with Hayate using his full cycling speed. Ayumu, having a great time with Hayate, said that she'll no longer ask for anything for White day as that moment alone satisfied her. Upon arriving in Izu, she meets Hinagiku again and Maria appears as she sees Nagi at Yukariko's grave.

White Day Arc
White Day has come and Hayate is looking for a present for Ayumu. During his search, he then encounters Hinagiku in front of a present shop who happen to be staring at a deeming gift for white day. After knowing what Hayate is up to, she then suggests the same gift that she was staring and after Hayate has done so, he then decides to find Ayumu. During Hayate's search for Ayumu, she found Hayate in the park as he was practicing on how he will give the present to her but it turned out that he has unintentionally done it in front of Maria which ultimately forces Hayate to give up the gift to her. After all this, Ayumu shows herself to Hayate and due to the uneasiness of what escalated, Hayate tells Ayumu to come back to the park later so he could give her something. Hinagiku also found out what happened after they crossed paths at the park and as a result, she introduced Hayate to a small cafe in which he eventually was able to make his White Day cookies and give them to Ayumu expressing his gratitude to her for taking care of him over the time they have known each other.

Later, Ayumu decided to take a part time job at that same cafe. By coincidence, Nagi and Hayate happen to work there too. As night approaches, she met Hinagiku, who said that she has something urgent to tell to Ayumu. Hinagiku later told Ayumu that she has fallen in love with Hayate. Hinagiku apologizes to Ayumu because Hinagiku earlier promised to support her to get Hayate, but Ayumu said that it was ok with her and that it will be a friendly competition between them.

Before Golden Week
Before the start of Golden Week vacation, she discovered that Hayate along with Nagi and Maria, will be going to Mykonos Isalnd, Greece. She also discovered that a quiz bee is to be hosted by the Asakaze family with the prize of a ticket to Mykonos Island which she decided to participate without hesitating. When the quiz was about to start, Fumi Hibino, who happen to be one of the participants, was the first to present a correct answer to the first question which is under the subject of Mathematics. Ayumu eventually won the quiz and goes with Hinagiku along with The Hakuou Three Amiga to Turkey then, eventually, to Mykonos Island. During her stay at Mykonos Island, Hayate saw her emerge out of a pool of water naked (as they were lost in a labyrinth) and due to great embarrassment from what had happened, she later attempted to explain that it is not a strange habit of hers.

Enjoying The Trip With Everyone
The next day, Sonia managed to steal the King's Jewel from Hayate by taking advantage of his handsome personality. Ayumu, who was also around, somewhat saved Hayate by discovering leads on where Sonia could have gone and managed to convince Sonia to hand the jewel back. Later, Ayumu kisses Hayate after they had a chat by the beach about the jewel. Then Ayumu and the others go to Athens. Here she went to various landmarks of Greece and the Greek National Museum with Nagi and the others. On the final night, when Hinagiku told her that Hayate truly loves someone else and that it's not among them, Ayumu comforts her and tells her not to give up. She enjoyed the trip and headed back to Japan with everyone.

Her birthday (Chapter 281-282)
On May 15th, Ayumu is worrying that Hayate may have forgotten her birthday. In actuality, Hayate was planning a surprise party with Nagi at the cafe they worked at. A psychological battle then begins as Ayumu tries her hardest to get him to remember her birthday, while Hayate tries everything he can possibly do to keep the event a secret until it is ready. After a number of attempts, Ayumu finally gave up and believed that she wasn't able to get him to remember and leaves straight after her shift, dejected. Nagi then calls her, saying that she had left something behind. After fighting a bit, Nagi is able to convince Ayumu to come back to retrieve the supposed object, where she is greeted by Nagi, Hayate, Hinagiku and the Hakuou Three Amiga a happy birthday.

Increasing weight
In chapter 347, Ayumu gained 3 kilos (6 pounds) from eating Hayate's cooking every time she goes to her part time job. She went to work and Hayate was serving her Nikuman. After eating one, she remembered that she gained weight and realized that she was gaining weight because of the food Hayate serves. Due to her not wanting to gain anymore weight, she decided not to eat anymore but Hayate's reaction made her eat again. After quite some time, Ruka came in to let Hayate hear her new song and afterwards, she left for her job. Ayumu, Convinced that Ruka is in love with Hayate due to the fact that she had gone there just for that, decided to go on a diet.

Moving into the Violet Mansion
After learning from her parents that due to the economic recession they won't be going on vacation this year and that her brother signed up for a homestay program so he wouldn't be around, Ayumu decided to visit Hayate and see if he has anything planned for summer. While visiting the Violet Mansion, much to her dismay, she learns that Ruka has become a tenant of the violet mansion. Taking advantage of the situation, she confirms that Ruka is a threat to her feelings for Hayate. Frantic of what she found out, Ayumu decided to apply as a worker at Wataru's new business in exchange for an immediate pay which she used to rent out the last room in the Violet Mansion.

Cuties
Astonished by her weight gain, Ayumu makes an effort to preserve her health. At Café Donguri, Hayate gives Ayumu some Nikuman he made. At that moment, she realizes her constant consuming of Hayate's food is the reason she's gaining weight. She stops herself from eating, but just couldn't resist Hayate's generous offer. In a flashback, Ayumu remembers how everyone prepared a surprise birthday party for her. Hayate was baking cookies for her. Maria asks him whether he remembers the other girls' birthdays, but he answers all the questions correctly. Nagi and Chiharu decide that they should throw a surprise party for Ayumu over at Café Donguri. Before they can start setting it up, Ayumu arrives. As she attempts to remind them what "today" is, they try to avoid the question by feigning ignorance until she gives up. Ayumu finally leaves after part-time and everyone quickly prepares the party. Nagi calls for Ayumu's return, but she is too dismayed, so Nagi use a sympathetic manner to convince her. Ayumu comes back and they surprise her with the party. Feeling overjoyed, she jumps onto Nagi. Back in the present, Ayumu walks home with Hayate saying it's unsafe during the night, leaving Hokuto confused. They go to Shiomi high school, to pick up Ayumu's notebook that she forgot. Hayate thought that if his parents hadn't sold him to the yakuza he probably would've accepted Ayumu's confession from before. As they leave, after defeating a monstrous thief, Ayumu decides she will do her best to lose weight.

Etymology

 * The name Ayumu means "walk, step" (歩).
 * Ayumu's surname Nishizawa means "west" (西) (nishi) and "marsh" (沢) (sawa/zawa).