I do not own Hayate the combat butler or any of the characters, all rights to Hata Kenjiro.

(Nagi's perspective)

The fresh morning sunshine greeted me as I woke up, the birds are chirping, the sky is blue, "Ahh what a lovely day to not go to school"

"Ehh? Ojousama even though your enthusiasm this morning is great, doesn't mean you can skip school today"

"Oh c'mon! I already went yesterday!"

In the end I still got pulled out by Hayate, how does this keep happening? Maybe Hayate is getting too good at being a butler. The day went by as usual, classes, boring stuff, lunch, and back to boring stuff. I could've spent this day playing video games and yet here I am. Luckily, I've found some free time for myself, during break, I like to sit at one of these benches and just read manga, not until Hayate finds me.

"Sanzenin Nagi" I turned around from the calling of my name, and once I've gained vision of who it was, my alone time came to its end. The person I've been avoiding all day has caught me. "Look, I know why you're here and I'm just gonna tell you this right now, I'm not doing any work for this assignment. I'm not even supposed to be here!"

To my surprise, he sat beside me on the bench,

"I guess we meet again" he calmly said, Kaito Tanaka, my partner in this unfortunate task.

"What are you doing? I already told you I'm not gonna help with the assignment, you're smart enough, so you can do it alone" I moved a little bit to the side and went back to reading,

"I know, I know I can complete this assignment on my own. But, I came here to know more about my partner. If you won't help me with the assignment, then at least..talk to me" I stared at him confusedly, I was about to turn him down but a thought came into mind.

"But it seems that you're busy so I'll be going—"

"W-wait! ..fine, we can talk"

He sat back right next to me and crossed his arms, "So..? What are we talking about?" I asked

"Depends on you, should we learn about each other? Questions?"

Questions, I do have questions, as to why his name sounds familiar to me. I want to dig around his family background. I closed my manga and set it aside, I thought of the questions I want to ask but I don't want to seem suspicious. "Why did you enroll only now?"

"Well, I didn't want to go to school in the first place, but my father insisted for me to receive at least a little of proper education"

Woah, this guy was able to skip school for half a year! I should learn from him!

As astonished I was, I tried to regain my composure and cleared my throat, "Why didn't you want to go to school?"

"I..wanted to spend more time on writing my stories, that was all I wanted to do. And speaking of stories, how's your manga doing?"

"Aren't I the one who's asking questions here?"

"Just curious"

"It's.. going okay, I'm still stuck at some pages but I'll manage"

"I guess mangas can be difficult to make, that's why novels are my go to"

"But they're plain and boring, and it sure takes long to read"

"It's not boring! it gives more into detail of the story, plus you have to deal with story AND illustrations in manga"

"Which makes it better than novels!"

The whole conversation revolved around on which is better, novels or manga. And because we were too deep into our debate, time really flew fast without us knowing it. "Ojousama! I've been looking everywhere for you" seems that Hayate has already found me.

"Oh, Tanaka-san you're also here, I guess you two were working on the assignment"

"Please call me Kaito, and yes, we were sharing our opinions on the assignment" Kaito said slyly, "Well I'll be going now, I'll finish the rest at home, it was nice talking to you, Sanzenin Nagi" he left leaving a wink behind, "Shall we go home now, Ojousama?"

As we went home I realized something, "Darn it!" I shouted abruptly to which Hayate was surprised,

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, "I was supposed to dig around Kaito's background but it turned into a fierce debate on novels and manga!"

"Eh? But I thought you were working on your tasks?"

"Of course we weren't! I didn't even help one bit!"

"I don't think you should say that so proudly..."

(Maria's perspective)

"Maria! Did you come to visit me?" I entered through the big heavy doors leading to the main living room. Maids and butlers bowed and greeted me as I passed by and I did the same.

"I'm only here to ask you about something"

"And here I thought you came because you missed me" Mikado-sama slouched in his seat,

I had no choice but to come here and ask the old man, the name Nagi told me last night was oddly familiar, it really bothered me.

"Do you know a name Kaito Tanaka?" I watched as his expression suddenly changed, there really must be something about this guy.

"Tanaka.. I haven't heard that name.. for a very long time"

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Next chapter will be posted on Friday or Saturday next week! If things go smoothly then I might post it earlier!