Chapter 21

'''Hayate no Gotoku! Chapter 21:''' A Battle for Men (男の戦い)

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * 1) Saki Kijima
 * 2) Wataru Tachibana
 * 3) Nagi Sanzenin
 * 4) Hayate Ayasaki
 * 5) Maria
 * 6) Isumi Saginomiya

Summary
After hearing that Wataru is Nagi's fiance, Hayate remarks that upper-class men are different from average people. Nagi, who is truly convinced that Hayate is in love with her, thinks that he's angry and considers this as a betrayal of his feelings. Hayate says that if Nagi is married off, the Sanzenin family would lose it's name; which Nagi intreprets as Hayate being disappointed that he would not get married to Nagi and she secretly thinks that she has to clear up the "misunderstanding". Maria says that Nagi isn't getting married, to which Hayate thinks that Wataru is being adopted into the family.

Wataru becomes angry at Hayate for saying that, claiming Nagi is a "selfish, irresponsible, manga-crazed person who thinks she's on top of the world", sparking a fight between Wataru and Nagi. At this point, Isumi joins the group and asks Wataru if he's at the mansion that early in the morning to give his New Year's greetings. She then goes on to ask if the loud voices she heard was him quarrelling with Nagi; causing him to openly deny it as he likes Isumi. Maria and Nagi explain that Wataru and her never wanted to be engaged in the first place, as they had no feelings for each other and Wataru had already fallen for Isumi. However Isumi thinks nothing of Wataru, a fact he knows. Hayate suggests that they all go eat breakfast and asks Isumi for her preference. Wataru gets jealous and challenges Hayate to a duel; Nagi suggests that if he was brutally crushed, Isumi might sympathize with him, so Hayate should go all out on him.

As the two prepare to duel, Hayate demonstrates his ability by slicing a nearby rock to pieces, shocking Wataru. Despite knowing Hayate is out of his league, Wataru charges him saying he cannot go back on his word. In Hayate's mind,he arrives at the conclusion that by losing, Isumi will fall for Wataru and the engagement would be cancelled, making Nagi happy. As Wataru swings, Hayate catches the sword with his bare hands and throws it away, then he feigns defeat and submits. This has the reverse effect however, as Isumi interprets the scene as Hayate losing on purpose to preserve Wataru's pride. Wataru breaks into tears seeing how Hayate had made a fool out of him, then punches him across the face and dashes off, swearing he will defeat Hayate someday.

Anime Adaption

 * Hayate no Gotoku! Season 1 Episode 7.