Hayate no Gotoku! 255

Chapter 255

01

Hayate: I...
Hayate: didn't come here to fight you.

Athena: Is that so?
Athena: Then will you give me the stone?

Hayate: I...
Hayate: I can't do that...

Hayate: Because the stone...
Hayate: has already been...

Athena: But Hayate.
Athena: I'm not asking you to give me the King's Jewel.
Hayate: Eh?

Left margin: He wants to save Athena...!! But does she want to be saved...!?

02

Athena: I'm ordering you to give it to me.
Text above title in bottom left: Athena...is serious!!
Title: Chapter 255 "One Word"

Right margin: Volume 22 goes on sale 1/16!! The special version "Including Katsura Hinagiku's Live Photograph" goes on sale at the same time!!

03

Hayate: A-tan!?

Athena: Oh, dear.
Athena: Do you really have the focus to spare needed to speak?

Athena: You should hand over the stone before you get hurt, Hayate!!

Hayate: Kh...!!
Hayate: At this rate...!!

Sakuya: Hey, there's something I want to ask you...

04

Sakuya: Isumi-san, you said yesterday that that stone would destroy the world.
Sakuya: What did you mean?

Isumi: I...
Isumi: don't know the details myself...

Isumi: But...
Isumi: It is written that that stone opens a path.
Sakuya: It opens a path?

Isumi: It opens the path to the Royal Garden Palace...
Isumi: in which the power of a god is sealed.

Isumi: It is written...
Isumi: that the path to the palace is opened...
Isumi: using an explosion of people's negative emotions.

Sakuya: People's...negative emotions?

Hayate: The Royal...
Hayate: Garden Palace?

05

Hayate: The palace in which the power of a god is sealed?
Hayate: A god?

Athena: So you have focus to spare to get lost in thought.

Athena: I'm glad, Hayate...
Athena: You truly have gotten strong in the past 10 years.

Athena: It means that putting all that effort into teaching you was worthwhile.
Hayate: A...-tan...

Athena: But...

Athena: If you think...
Athena: you're the only one who got stronger...

06

Athena: You're sorely mistaken!!

Hayate: Gh!!

07

Hayate: Gh...

Athena: It looks like you were holding back...
Athena: so that you wouldn't hurt me.

Athena: Even if you had gone all out against me...
Athena: just like with that young lady...
Athena: your sword would have been unable to reach me.

Athena: Well, after coming this far, I'm sure even someone as slow to catch on as you has already figured that out.
Athena: So could you hurry up and hand over the stone?

Hayate: I told you...
Hayate: I can't do that.

Athena: Oh, I see.

08

Athena: Then I'll use a more direct approach.
SFX: *snap*

SFX: *slam*
SFX: *slam*

Hayate: Eh?

Athena: With someone like you who has already opened the path once, there shouldn't be a problem as long as you have the stone.
Athena: I'm sure this is why Sanzenin Mikado gave you the stone.

Athena: Hayate...
Athena: Do you know what that is?
Hayate: Eh?

Athena: It's a replica of the King's Jewel.
Athena: But it was a failure.
Athena: The more power I put into it, the more legendary monsters like the one you defeated are created.
Athena: The more power it gets, the more it makes.
Athena: In this castle...
Athena: In the city nearby...

09

Athena: Or in the party hall of a certain hotel.

Hayate: A-tan!!?

10

Risa: Man, parties sure are fun.
Izumi: Yeah. We need to have more later.

Izumi: I can't wait.

Athena: C'mon, this is no time to hesitate, Hayate!!
Athena: Hurry up and hand over the stone or open the path!!

Athena: Or...
Athena: Defeat me, I suppose.

Hayate: Kh...!! Why...!!
Hayate: Why are you going so far for the stone...!?

11

Hayate: Didn't you...
Hayate: want to leave that palace!?

Athena: Want to...
Athena: leave the palace...?

Hayate: That's right!!
Hayate: You didn't want to stay in that palace...
Hayate: where you were lonely, heart-broken, and always alone!!

Athena: Always...
Athena: alone...

Hayate: That's right! So...
Hayate: why do you need the stone that let's you go back there!?

Athena: Sh...
Athena: Shut up!!!

12

Hayate: Back then, we couldn't leave the palace together!
Hayate: We were young and there were things we couldn't forgive!!

Hayate: But now...
Hayate: we're both outside the palace!!

Hayate: So you...
Hayate: don't need the stone anymore!!

Athena: D...!!
Athena: Don't speak for me!!

Athena: Who ever said...
Athena: that I wanted to leave the palace with you!!

13

Athena: I kicked you out because I came to hate you!!
Athena: At that time...!!

Athena: I only let you live...
Athena: because our swords happened to break...!!
Athena: I was actually trying to kill you...!!

Hayate: No!!
Hayate: You saved me back then!!

Athena: What proof do you have of that...!?

Hayate: Here's proof...!!

14

Athena: Eh?

Hayate: Even though I attacked at full strength...
Hayate: the swords didn't break.

Hayate: Since the swords didn't break...
Hayate: with our full strengths after 10 years...

15

Hayate: Even by mistake...
Hayate: they wouldn't have broken...
Hayate: back then from the strength of children.

Hayate: You rigged them somehow.
Hayate: You...

Hayate: did something...
Hayate: to make them break.

Hayate: So that even if you were possessed by something...
Hayate: and lost control of yourself...
Hayate: you wouldn't hurt me if I made a mistake.

Hayate: You protected me.
Hayate: Even if it meant you would be alone...
Hayate: you let me escape from that mysterious palace.

Athena: So...
Athena: I wanted to tell you something.

16

Athena: Thanks...
Athena: for protecting me...

Right margin: Feelings of thanks that have been heated for 10 years. Hayate's unexpected words have given Athena's heart a jolt. But the evil spirit is still within that very heart...