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The limousine approached the Academy. Traffic was moderate, but the gridlock is eased by many dozens of suit-wearing men on the sides of the road directing traffic. Many cars poured in and out of the parking lot close by. Greater numbers of people hurry in and out of the nearby subway station. All are there for the annual Hakou Academy cultural festival, an event that for once commoners can visit the prestigious school that is normally off-limits to outsiders. Given the number of people there, it seemed easily the largest event the city district had to offer that month.
Hayate tried to share his excitement with his mistress. He said as he peered out through the car window, "It looks even grander than last year" Nagi seemed less enthusiastic about the whole affair, "It's always been grander and grander each year. It's the trend. Doesn't help that some class is always trying to raise the bar every year. The whole festival has nothing to do with culture either, but rather one class trying to out do the other."
Hayate tried to smile to cheer Nagi up. Neither of them fondly remembered last year's festival. It took quite a bit of effort from Hayate and many texts from a few other friends to persuade Nagi to go. Normal schooling would be suspended during the festival and normally Nagi would not leave the house on a school holiday. It was a good excuse to make Nagi leave the house at least. Compared to last year, there were no evil butlers trying to kill Hayate. It was a good sign maybe that today will be much more fun.
The pair exited the limousine and were greeted by a familiar face. Hinagiku and a few other students were at the school gate still in uniform. They were too busy handing out maps and giving directions to notice Hayate and Nagi approaching until they were close by. She handed Nagi a map and greeted her, "Hi, Nagi. Nice of you to come to the festival. I was beginning to worry when you didn't come yesterday which was, first day for the first day of the festival."
Nagi thanked her and passed the map to Hayate. He asked, "The festival spans over two days now?"
"Yes." Hinagiku answered, "We had a lot of complaints after last year's festival that it wasn't long enough. So we went for two days this year. It's going to be tiring for the students though."
"I see. Why are you still on the job after spending so long and working hard to plan the festival?"
"Unfortunately, duty as president doesn't end there. I'm helping a few first-year volunteers right now. Their shift should be over in a few hours though. I'll catch up to you then."
She opened up another copy of the school festival map and pointed to a location on the map for Nagi and Hayate to see. "I think there's a few booths here selling manga and doujo..."
"Doujinshi." Nagi corrected for Hingaiku.
"Thanks. Just wanted to direct you to something relevant to your interests to start the festival off for you."
Nagi started to wander off to the given location and beckoned Hayate to accompany her. When Hayate began to follow Hinagiku stopped him for a moment and displayed a face of concern. "Take good care of Nagi."
Hayate nodded confidently and ran after his mistress.
Nagi spent quite a long time browsing through the manga that were available there and made a few purchases as Hayate watched cautiously. He asked, "How are the doujinshi looking here?"
"They're al right in quality. I wonder how 'Millennium Legend: Magical Destroy' will sell compared to them though. A school cultural festival is a good place to try to sell doujinshi though, but it's only suitable for small circles and first-timers. Maybe online would be a better place for someone with more experience. Or we should attempt to get a booth at Comiket and..."
Nagi continued on as a tap on Hayate's shoulder from behind directed his attention away from her.
"Hayate." John approached from behind with a cheeky smile. "Guess I was exactly right when I predicted where Nagi Sanzenin would be, and her butler won't be far behind either."
"What do you want John?" Despite being quite acquainted and the fact that John did save their lives, there was still a seed of mistrust remaining.
"I was wandering around the festival during the break between my shifts on the haunted house. We hadn't met since the day she helped me since we're all so busy with our own lives. I suddenly remembered that I had only thanked you and not her so thought that I should properly thank your mistress for helping me with my essay. So I went looking for you two. The DVDs she recommended were al right research and it turned out okay. Seems Nagi is a little busy in her own world though, so that would have to wait."
"I'll pass on your thanks to my mistress then. Anything else?"
"None that I can think of right now."
Hayate paused for a moment to think before asking, "Mind if I ask you a question?"
John shrugged, "Sure. I'm all ears."
"Do you have a last name, John? I remember you greatly hesitated to write it that day."
"Did I? My last name is some complicated English name. You wouldn't understand it. I was trying to think of how to spell it in Katakana."
"Al right, but you seem quite Japanese to me and everyone else. Why is your name John then?"
John chuckled, "Al right, al right. It's a long story though. If I told you all of it though we would be here until tomorrow. Basically I'm born to a wealthy Japanese family living in England. For some reason they decided to give me an English name instead of a Japanese one. I spoke Japanese in my household though so I'm pretty fluent at it and I'm thankful I don't have a funny foreign accent today. Does that answer your question?"
Hayate seemed satisfied with John's answer. "Yes, thank you. You sure attracted a lot of attention when you first came here though."
"I still don't know what is the deal with transfer students being the centre of attention. A lot of manga and anime sure start with a new transfer student though, then things go downhill from there. Maybe that's why. I sure captured the hearts of many women with my gentlemen's charm though." John tried to flash his most charming smile.
John looked at his watch and was disappointed at the position of the hands. "Seems my next shift is starting very shortly. I guess I still wasted too much time trying to find you two. Here have these."
John gave Hayate two coloured pieces of paper. On it was a picture of a badly drawn ghost and in large yellow text, "Class 2C presents 'Haunted Mansion'."
He remarked, "I didn't design that. Those are tickets to our haunted house. I guess it's thank for your mistress' help. Make sure to visit okay? It'll be a shocking experience." John waved goodbye as he ran off.
The butler went to check on Nagi just as she finished browsing through the last manga she was interested in. She noticed John panting as he scurried off into the distance.
"What was he doing here?"
"He wanted to thank you for your help back then with all the DVDs."
"He'd better."
"He gave us this." Hayate showed Nagi the tickets. "It's for the haunted house his class is running."
Nagi was disinterested, "Sounds quite boring. Haunted houses are for children."
"Since he went out of his way to give us these. We should pay the house a visit I think. Even if it is a short one."
"Fine. Lead me there then."
"Of course milady." Hayate smiled.
As the pair drew closer to the haunted house or 'Haunted Mansion' as named on the ticket, the scale and grandiose of the whole building became very apparent. While the building was only 2 storeys high, the entire length of the building can easily span a few football fields. It was constructed out of marble with large stained glass windows giving the impression of a Gothic church minus the height. The marble had the impression of age equivalent to hundreds of years and had vines and moss growing on it. How a bunch of high school students managed this is up to the beholder.
The large wooden entrance was only guarded by a desk and a female student who seemed very cheerful despite the gloomy mansion placed behind her. She greeted the pair as they came closer to the desk.
"Welcome to Haunted Mansion. Did you come as a couple?"
Nagi didn't hesitate to answer, "Yes! We are one."
The female student smiled, "Wonderful! I'm sure the experience will strengthen your bond. Do you have tickets yet?"
Nagi nodded, eagerly waiting to enter with her beloved butler.
"Please proceed then. Have a nice day."
Behind the entrance stood a male student contrary to his female counterpart shared the same bleak building over him. Seems he was bored with the menial task of collecting pieces of paper from people entering. He extended his hand and weakly said, "Tickets please."
The empty hallway was lit only by torches which extended as far as the eye can see. At the end of the path was another wooden door, which led to the haunted house proper. As the pair proceeded down the stone floor, Nagi asked, "Can you hold my hand Hayate?"
He complied, "It's for the best I guess. We can't get separated that way."
The door led to the actual haunted house. Contrary to the Gothic architecture on the exterior of the building, the interior was Japanese themed. Stone tiles marked the path ahead. To the sides were tombstones and the occasional desolate house. Occasional screams from far away provided the ambience.
"This seems awfully familiar to the one in our amusement park." Hayate observed. "We haven't paid a visit there since the day we visited together. I was attacked by an orange robot named Seven, or was it Six? And it blew a hole it a roof. Has it even been repaired?"
She shook her head, "Don't think so. I couldn't care less about it."
"You don't like haunted houses right? Are you afraid?"
"I normally would be... but since Hayate is here with me. I have nothing to fear."
"Let's proceed then."
The pair advanced down the path marked by the stone blocks. Nagi trailed only slightly behind Hayate, gripping his hand tightly. While her words denied it, she had every right to be afraid. The occasional scream that echoed through the room reminded the two of what might lay ahead. Hayate scanned right and left for any hidden dangers or threats. The next surprise seemed close and inevitable, but remained unseen.
A humanoid figure lay in wait behind a certain marked tombstone. Footsteps are heard from a distance, slowly growing louder. One, no, two steps are heard in close sequence, followed by another two. This meant there wasn't one victim approaching, but two. Two juicy humans. Feeling the body heat grow stronger, the monster knew they were very close. It crept a hand from behind the marble tombstone ready to grab the first thing it felt.
Very close now. Any moment, sweet flesh. The decayed hand brushed slightly against the feel of clothing.
"Danger!"
Hayate let go of Nagi's hand and headed straight for the perceived threat. From the location where he had felt the hand, he quickly deduced the origin to be from behind the tombstone next to them. He mustered a mighty blow and threw a hook aimed behind the grave. The figure cloaked in shadow was blown from behind it's cover and out into the open dirt for torchlight to reveal.
Suddenly a very human groan came out.
"That hurt man." It complained.
"Huh?" Hayate was still bewildered.
The zombie removed its head to reveal a human head. The male student rubbed his cheek to try to remedy the pain. "What kind of punch was that? And I thought the padding on this costume was very thick, especially at around the head."
The extent of what he had done finally reached Hayate. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Hayate bowed in rapid succession.
The zombie was still not satisfied with the apology. "All I was going to do was give you a light touch to scare one of you. And you respond with a punch like that? What if I wasn't wearing this on my head. What would've happened then? What if..."
Nagi sighed, "Seems like he did his job a little too well."
The butler and his mistress proceeded deeper into the labyrinth. Behind them lay a path of many shaken costumed students. All of which provoked the butler's wrath. In front lay what looked like an abandoned Japanese shrine and in the distance, a partially lit figure approaching closer.
More and more features became visible as it drew closer. First, a kimono. Then, dark-blue hair and then a very human face.
Nagi was delighted to see her, "Isumi! How nice to see you again."
She bowed back, "Good morning, Nagi. Good morning, Hayate."
Hayate returned the greeting, "Good afternoon. It's 3 PM already."
"What are you doing here Isumi?" Nagi asked.
"Extermination." The maiden responded. "All the spirits here are fake though. I shall search for real ones."
As quickly as she appeared, Isumi seemed to have vanished into thin air. Where to, only her faulty internal compass knows.
Hayate noticed the end of the stone path, with the other end of the room finally in sight. "Seems like we're finally reaching the end. Seems like that wasn't very scary at all."
Nagi agreed, "It wasn't. All thanks to Hayate."
Only a mausoleum stood in the way between them and victory over the haunted house. It was the largest building inside the haunted house itself. It was plain though, with no statues to indicate which (hopefully fake) person was buried here. The stone path they had walked through ended at the steps of the tomb. A faint light awaited at the end of the mausoleum. Perhaps it is the exit. A glimmer of hope admits the darkness.
"Logic tells me that there is a boss waiting there. After beating all of it's minions before, the boss should be at the final stage which is right ahead of us." Nagi pointed out.
"What kind of logic is that?" Hayate thought.
Hayate held his hand up offering to hold Nagi's hand again. "Shall we go?"
She nodded and gripped Hayate's hand tightly.
The pair climbed up the stone steps and ready themselves for the final surprise that awaited them. The screams now echoed from behind them, ahead was only silence. Suddenly a whisper rang out, and then singing? The pair quickly moved forward to investigate.
The singing was by a female voice and became occasionally distorted, almost as if there was a drunken undertone. A faint smell of alcohol filled the air. The singing stopped when the person sitting on the floor took a large drink from her bottle. She stopped to take a look at the two new people coming.
"Ah, it's Nagi and the Sanzenin butler."
"It's Hayate." he corrected. "What are you doing here Miss Katsura?"
The teacher took another drink from the bottle, dressed in the lower-half of a skeleton costume. "You see... I was assigned to help this class with their little festival project thing... I was a little bored though. So I went a bought a few friends."
Perceiving no threat, Hayate released Nagi's hand and proceeded to help clean up some of the empty bottles that were around the stone coffin the female teacher was resting against. "Drinking on a job isn't good though. Maybe you should stop."
"You're right. I should stop." Miss Katsura agreed, as she finished the bottle she was holding.
"Can we get going already?" Nagi said. She was displeased seeing Hayate talking to another woman.
"Very soon, mistress." Hayate said as he finished placing the last few bottles in a plastic bag.
Nagi continued to complain behind him. "Finish quickly please. I feel like eating some okonomiyaki right now. Can you buy me some Haya..."
Without warning, Nagi disappeared from plain sight. The only trace of her remaining was an echoing voice from below screaming, "Hayateeeeeeee!" Her scream fading in volume almost as if she was falling further and further away.
Hayate was in a panicked mode and quickly asked, "What happened? Where did she go?"
Miss Katsura was the only one facing towards Nagi when she disappeared, but was too drunk to grasp the gravity of the situation. She lazily replied, "Nagi? I think some kind of door opened below her and she fell through it."
"Trapdoor?" Hayate didn't hesitate to ask back.
"Think so. She was standing right over there."
"Thanks. Please stand back Miss Katsura."
Hayate tapped the floor at the location where the teacher pointed. Contrary to one might expect, the sound it gave was high pitched as opposed to a dull thud. As expected, when Hayate punched through the floor, a small part of it was a steel trapdoor leading to a long shaft down.
He said to Miss Katsura, "Please stay here. It's too dangerous." Then he jumped down.
The metal chute stretched downwards for a large distance. The tunnel led straight to a large empty room, clad only with white tiles. He landed on a few cushions, presumably there to break Nagi's fall who fell down the same chute earlier.
"Hayate!" Nagi screamed, confirming Hayate that she landed in the same room he did. She was chained up on the wall across the room. Beside her was a familiar fake foreign face, complete with blonde afro.
"Yo butler boy." Gilbert waved to Hayate. "Remember me?"
"You're that fake foreigner who tried to take Nagi's fortune. Release her at once."
"Sure thing, once I have that money." Gilbert grinned.
Nagi disagreed, "Don't listen to him Hayate! He's just a loser."
"Mistress is right." Hayate said. "Come to fail again?"
Aggravated, Gilbert responded, "Third time's the charm boy. I've been planning this for a long time. This is your last warning boy."
"This is your warning Gilbert. I'll just defeat whatever you got and rescue her."
"Can't say I didn't warn you then." Gilbert reached for a switch in his pocket and flipped it.
The floor in the middle of the room opened up to reveal a rather menacing looking robot, coloured brightly red and almost as tall as the room.
He proceeded to boast about the robot, "I paid quite a fortune for this. I've analysed my previous defeat and tried my best to learn from my mistakes. Here's the fruit of my toil. Behold, Anti-Butler Robot Mark 1!" He promptly jumped into the cockpit.
Hayate seemed unfazed, "Giant mecha again? Didn't you learn something from last time?"
Taunted, Gilbert slams on a button. "Learn this then!" Dozens of missiles launched straight for Hayate.
The combat butler jumped back to avoid the first dozen and sprinted straight for Gilbert. He weaved through the rest of them, all missing.
"Why do they have such poor tracking!" Gilbert was frustrated. "How about this then?" He punched another button. "Gett*r Beam!"
The robot fired a purple coloured beam from its chest down a straight path. Additional missiles were fired and were approaching from both sides of the butler.
Gilbert was confident in his three-pronged attack. "Got you!"
Hayate simply jumped over everything Gilbert threw at him. Utilizing the explosion the missiles had made, he propelled himself onto the glass cockpit.
Gilbert was of course, shocked. "How did you dodge all that? I did not calculate this could happen."
"You clearly underestimate butlers Gilbert." Hayate said as he prepared to punch through the cockpit glass.
Gilbert frantically panicked, and searched for a button that would remedy the situation for him. "Need to do something. This is not going well."
Self destruct activated. Destruction in 10. 9. 8.
"I... did not press that... Need to eject! Eject!" Gilbert quickly pulled the lever below his seat and off the cockpit flew. Hayate jumped away as the cockpit rocketed upwards and crashed through the ceiling of the room.
7.
6.
Hayate ran to rescue Nagi, who was still chained to the wall.
5.
"Are you al right Nagi?" Hayate asked.
"I'll be fine, but it's going to explode is it?"
4.
"It's way too close to us. We won't survive the explosion. Let me see if I can break these chains."
3.
He tried, but failed.
2.
"Hayate?" Nagi felt helpless.
"Just close your eyes." He assured her as he hugged her tightly.
1.
"Are you al right Hayate?" Nagi asked as she opened her eyes.
"I'll be fine." He panted as he released his protective hold on her. A cry of pain followed shortly after though, as the butler collapsed downwards.
"You're... bleeding..."
He tried to smile to comfort her. "I said I'll be fine. Just some minor injuries."
Footsteps were heard from behind. Another person was approaching.
"Hayate? What happened?" John ran towards Hayate as soon as he saw his injuries.
"John? I got attacked again, but I'll be okay."
"Okay? Looks pretty gruesome to me. Any ordinary man should be dead by now. Let me help you up." John extended a hand to help Hayate to his feet.
"Can you call an ambulance?" Hayate asked.
"Sure. After I do this though."
A punch sent Hayate flying several metres from where he once stood.
"Sorry for that." John apologized, as he walked closer to Hayate.
"What are you doing?" Hayate didn't comprehend what had just happened.
John grinned. "Seems like you can still stand though. Maybe if I beat you up a little more, she'll start talking."
"What do you want? Don't tell me you're after..."
Another punch.
"Yes, I am." John pointed to the chained Nagi. "Will she ever realize that she is the most powerful woman on the planet right now? I'm after that."
"Her fortune? What can a little money bring?"
"It's not just a little money Hayate. I'll explain later. Everything's been going according to plan. Now is the time for..."
A kick.
Nagi cried out, "I don't know what he's up to! But you can defeat him Hayate!"
"She's right." Hayate thought. "I can't lose yet."
Hayate dodged the next casual punch that was thrown, and counter attacked with one of his own. John staggered backwards for a few moments, but regained his equilibrium.
"Nice spirit Hayate." John applauded. "It would be nice to fight on equal terms. However, I can't take the risk of losing to you. It ends now."
John smiled, "I doubt you can dodge this in your state. Ultimate Butler Technique: Gale Fist!"
Hayate slumped to the floor, gasping for air due to the heavy blow to the abdomen in front of his opponent.
Nagi only screamed, "Stupid Hayate! You have to defeat him! Stupid! Stupid! You have to get up... Stupid..."
"It's over." John sneered. He turned to Nagi. "Convinced yet? You know what you have to do to stop this."
Nagi started to sob, "I won't! Hayate will defeat you! Get up Hayate!"
"So no?" He frowned. "Perhaps this might convince you."
John walked towards the downed Hayate, and pulled a pistol out of his uniform jacket. He promptly cocked it and aimed it towards Hayate's head. "This convincing enough?"
"No! I won't! I... I'm... I'm sorry... What did I just say?" Nagi burst into open tears.
He started to laugh manically. "I... I did it... I did it grandfather. I... I finally got back what's rightfully yours."
Nagi continued to protest, "The money may be yours, but grandfather... He'll never give it to you!"
John cleared his throat as he recomposed himself, "Sorry for earlier. Going mad isn't my style." He answered, "Your grandfather? I'm sorry, but your old man is out of the picture now."
He turned towards Hayate and picked his head off the floor. "Remember when you asked me for my last name? I guess you can call me John... Sanzenin now."
Hayate attempted to reach for her, groaning "Nagi" before fading out of consciousness.