Hayate Yagami

Hayate Yagami (八神 はやて) is one of the main characters of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, though she appears in neither the previous series Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha nor the later alternate story Triangle Heart. She is voiced by in a strong. Hayate is a cute, kind-hearted orphan in a wheelchair who is actually the mistress of the Book of Darkness and the Wolkenritter (Signum, Vita, Shamal and Zafira) but is unaware that they are causing harm to other people.

Hayate's magic works slightly differently than that of Fate or Nanoha, in the fact that the closest thing she has to "familiars" are the Wolkenritter and her "weapon" is the Book of Darkness. She uses a mix of the Mid-Childa and Belka magic systems, but in the manga, identifies herself more with the Belka side.

According to the latest chapter of Force, she seems to have been given the nickname "Living Lost Logia".

Personality
Hayate is a kind individual who treats those who would otherwise not be considered human well, and who believes that causing harm to others, whatever the reason, is unacceptable. She is cheerful most of the time, but often hides any pain she is feeling from those close to her. It is revealed in the sound stages that she enjoys fondling the breasts of her female friends or subordinates, but only if they would willingly let her.

In A's
A's opens with Hayate sleeping in her room as the Book of Darkness on her bookshelf activates and begins to write its own pages. Though Hayate is an orphan, she gets an allowance from her father's friend and lives with the Wolkenritter, whom she introduces to everyone as her relatives. Though she is their mistress, she sees herself only as their friend, and has a good relationship with them—especially Vita, who reciprocally devoted herself for her to a fault. Hayate also befriends Suzuka Tsukimura, who is, unknown to the Wolkenritter, one of Nanoha Takamachi's best friends. The Wolkenritter attack mages to steal their Linker Cores, their sources of magic, to fill the 666 pages of the Book of Darkness with this power before it saps any more of Hayate's and she becomes fully paralyzed. Nanoha and Fate are sent to protect the innocent victims and stop the Wolkenritter, while they try to keep Hayate from knowing that they are stealing magic for pages; she has told them that as long as she is mistress of the Book, she will not allow anyone to be harmed over it.

The Wolkenritter, especially Vita, are determined to save Hayate even if it means going against her wishes. However, what the Time-Space Administration Bureau knows that they do not is that the Book of Darkness, once completed, may stop sapping her Linker Core for pages, but that does not mean that it will stop hurting her or undo its damage. In fact, the master of the Book dies upon its completion. Just before said completion, Suzuka brings Hayate some friends in the hospital as the Wolkenritter are there... Nanoha and Fate. The warring groups recognize each other and their shared wish at once, and meet on the roof of the hospital. Nanoha and Fate try to tell the Wolkenritter about what will happen to Hayate, but their confrontation is cut short by both the interference of two masked men and the completion of the Book of Darkness with the Linker Cores of the Wolkenritter themselves.

The masked men are actually Liese twins (in transformed state), Aria and Lotte, who trap Nanoha and Fate and pose as them as they bring Hayate up to the roof and reveal that she can not be cured if the Book is finished, pretending that Nanoha and Fate killed the Wolkenritter. Hayate screams in horror for all of this to stop and is taken over by the will of the Book of Darkness, becoming the fearsome possessed woman inside of it just as the real duo escapes their prison. As Nanoha and Fate fight her to no avail, Chrono Harlaown confronts Gil Graham as to why Aria and Lotte had done this. The old man reveals that he sent them, and also that he was Hayate's benefactor, not a friend of her father's. Graham had known all along whom the mistress of the Book was, and he wanted to at least give the innocent Hayate some happiness before he was forced to seal her away in another dimension with her book. Chrono asserts that Hayate does not deserve this fate and that there is another way.

Nanoha and Fate attempt to attack Hayate as she has fused with the power of the Book, but to no avail. They even attempt to communicate with her, telling her that she was tricked, but she cries and, as the Book, says that she is only carrying out the wishes of Hayate. The Book claims that Hayate, losing her friends, has been driven to near-madness in much the same manner as Precia Testarossa had at the death of Alicia prior to the first season. The girls try again, but the Book says that she is simply a tool and will not last long, but must carry out her master's wishes. She absorbs Fate into a dream from which she will never want to wake and reveals that Hayate is in much the same sort of dream. In the middle of this, Hayate, inside a void in the Book's separate dimension, opens her eyes, but the Book tells her to go back to sleep and escape the tragic reality. She could stay with her friends forever, but it would not be real... Hayate cries out that she did not want this at all.

Absorbing the knowledge of the Book of Darkness, she realizes the truth of everything that has been going on behind her back, the innocence of Nanoha and Fate and the sadness of the Wolkenritter. That cannot be forgotten, Hayate asserts. She is the mistress, and the Book has to do what she says. She takes control of her body again so that Nanoha can disable it and gives the Book a new name, "Reinforce". Hayate reprograms the entire Book, but something still remains inside that wants to continue its path of destruction and pain. She identifies it as a corrupted automatic defense program and that it caused the evil aspect of the Book in the first place. Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, Reinforce, Chrono, Arf and Yūno meet up inside the Book 's pocket dimension, along with Signum, Shamal, Vita and Zafira, whom Hayate restores to life. Hayate's knights apologize to her for collecting Linker Cores despite her orders not to do so, and she forgives them.

Hayate and her knights team up Nanoha and her friends and, pooling all of their power, defeat the viral creature. Reinforce believes that she has to be destroyed for the virus never to return, but Hayate refuses to let her go. Stating that she will always be with Hayate, Reinforce sacrifices herself, and asks Hayate not to give her name to the powerless remnant left by her destruction, but to the new weapon that Hayate creates to serve her.

After the incident, Hayate is placed on probation, serving the Time-Space Administration Bureau along with her knights, and on orders from Admiral Letty, begins attending school as soon as she as well enough to do so until her compulsory education is complete. Around the same time, she enters rehabilitation to regain her ability to walk, and later does rehabilitation together with Nanoha after her injury. In an epilogue taking place six years later, Hayate is older, able-bodied, still living with the Wolkenritter, and working for the TSAB along with Fate and Nanoha.

In the manga
Two official manga series expand on what happens to the characters between A's and the sequel, StrikerS.

In the epilogue issue of the A's manga series, stated as being five months after the conclusion of the A's anime, Hayate is depicted as having enrolled as a cadet in the Special Investigations Unit of the TSAB. The Wolkenritter have been allowed to remain with Hayate—she explains that this is because Admiral Leti believes they possess greater potential as a single unit as opposed to being deployed individually.

The ongoing StrikerS manga series occurs six years after the events of A's and four years before the events of the StrikerS anime series. In it, Hayate is no longer paralyzed and is in her third year of junior high school. She is also now a Special Investigations Officer of the TSAB Surface Division and is actively pursuing a command rank, having passed the command school exam on her first attempt. Hayate tells Nanoha and Fate in the first issue that she intends to relocate herself and the Wolkenritter from Earth to residence::Mid-Childa before her middle school graduation.

In StrikerS
Four years after the A's epilogue, Hayate has dedicated herelf to her job, dropping out of school after graduating from middle school, and has managed to surpass Nanoha and Fate in ranking. She and the Wolkenritter now only work together on special occasions, and her main partner is now Reinforce II, who doubles as her uses::Unison Device. At one point, she was serving under Genya Nakajima and was very close to him, looking up to him as a mentor despite surpassing him in rank. She, Nanoha, and Fate joined together to rescue civilians such as Subaru and Ginga Nakajima from an airport disaster using their abilities. While, the trio wasn't credited for their heroism since they were not there officially, the event motivated Hayate to create Long Arch and Riot Force 6 in order to establish a unit specifically to deal with smuggling Lost Logia.

During this time, Hayate faces some criticism for her role in the Book of Darkness incident, particularly from Regius Gaiz, and works as hard as she does so that people cannot say as much about it. Despite this opposition, Hayate has also made some new friends and allies, including Inspector Verossa Acous, Carim Gracia of the Saint Church and her assistant Schach Nouera.

In Episode 12, Hayate arrives at the scene of Nanoha and Fate fighting Gadget Drones, and orders them not to release their limiters, noting that they must save them for a more crucial time. She then releases her limiter and destroys the drones while Nanoha and Fate catch up with the helicopter carrying Vivio. The three attack Dieci and Quattro, until Tre arrives and escapes with them.

During the attack on the Ground Forces HQ and Riot Force 6's headquarters, Hayate is unable to do anything for most of the battle, having turned in her device for security reasons at the press conference. She transfers the division to the Asura, which is about to be decommissioned, and commands air mages during the final attack on the Cradle, before going inside to assist Nanoha and Vita. Nanoha and Hayate are trapped inside the throne room until Subaru and Teana arrive to help them escape.

After the end of the series, Hayate, despite having succeeded in her mission, wonders if she was a failure as a commander because she made minimal contributions to the final battle, but Verossa and Genya suggest that she can grow from the experience. She takes on command of a mobile investigations unit after the end of the series. Hayate adopts Agito into the Yagami family after she becomes Signum's Unison Device.

In ViVid
Hayate makes a cameo appearance in the first chapter of appears in::Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid, receiving a picture of Vivio Takamachi and her friends. In Chapter 16, Lutecia Alpine proposes contacting the Yagami family in order to get information on creating a Belkan device for Einhart Stratos to use in the upcoming tournament. Hayate then senses that someone is talking about her.

In Force
Hayate makes a brief cameo in the prologue chapter of appears in::Magical Chronicle Lyrical Nanoha Force, standing in her new office with her back turned to the reader. She now sports longer, approximately shoulder-length hair, making her difficult to recognize from behind, and now has a high-ranking official's coat draped over her shoulders.

Her first proper appearance is in chapter 2, where she is called for a press conference by Rein. It is revealed that Hayate is still working on Mid-Childa and currently holds the position of TSAB Marine Defense Force Investigation Commander. She is also the captain of LS class TSAB warship Wolfram. Later on, in chapter 5, it is revealed that Hayate's new unit, Special Duty Section 6, is assigned to deal with the Hückebein and Eclipse cases, which Erio Mondial and Caro Ru Lushe have been working on.

In the beginning of chapter 8, she is seen in her office with her elbows on the desk and fingers steepled, looking very grim, having just received the report of Signum's near-fatal injuries as a result of loss against the Hückebein. Later, Hayate is found on the Wolfram ' s command deck, overseeing her crew, as the vessel gives chase to the Hückebein airship. She outlines the capabilities of the enemy ship, singling out its anti-magic capabilities and considerable maneurability, but also states that the TSAB can no longer allow criminals of their calibre to run free. She orders Nanoha and Vita (callsign "Aggressor 1" and "Aggresssor 2", respectively) to bombard the Hückebein ship after Wolfram ' s main cannon Augusto deals only insignificant damage it, and then has an infiltration team consisting of Subaru, Caro, and Fate breach the hull. Later on, after Thoma unleashes a massive Divider Zero Eclipse attack that cripples both the Wolfram and the Hückebein vessel (not to mention a majority of the people within), Hayate attempts to assess the current situation form the bridge, with several screens around her showing the word "emergency". She demands an explanation from the helmswoman Lucino, who answers that "some form of energy" has stalled their ship as well as the Hückebein's; Hayate then checks up on Vita and Nanoha, both of whom reply that they can no longer carry on with the attack.

She is later contacted by Stella of Hückebein, whom Thoma has threatend with another Zero Eclipse if she doesn't allow Lily and Isis to be eject from the Hückebein vessel and taken to safety by the TSAB. Stella offers to trade the "hostages" and the Bureau's disabled infiltration team for a five minute ceasefire, during which their vessels can regain power. Hayate is somewhat baffled that the enemy captain appears to be a young girl and is sceptical at first. Stella adds that the TSAB has no reason to pursue the Hückebein, since they only operate in non-administrated worlds and areas, outside TSAB jurisdiction. Hayate, however, dismisses these claims, declaring that saving human lives is more important than formal jurisdiction constraints, therefore Hückebein cannot be allowed to go free. Stella ignores her words, as she jettisons the hostages and TSAB agents out of her ship.

Hayate tells Lucino that she's going out to retrieve them herself, and further states to resume the chase as soon as she does. She is later seen on the Wolfram hull above the bridge, with her Barrier Jacket/Knight Armor on (but without her hat from the earlier series). She examines the Tome of the Night Sky in her right hand and notes that the Zero Eclipse did not disable her Device in any way. She is thus able to catch the hostages with a Holding Net. Simultaneously, she orders the Wolfram to resume pursuit of the enemy vessel as soon as possible, and deploys Nanoha to retrieve the "unidentified boy" that leaped from the Hückebein ship beforehand.

Vita is later seen standing on the Wolfram's bridge, standing next and providing back-up for Hayate, who deducted that a double-hit from Vita and Erio would be enough to completely disable the Huckebein airship, and was preparing a spell called Heimdall just in case the enemy manages a getaway. She appeared confident that hers would deal the killing blow; she then declares that they will no longer allow the Huckebein escape and orders Vita to prepare

Powers
Hayate was assigned the mage rank of SS (one short of the ultimate SSS), which means that her raw power output is truly immense, bordering a tactical nuclear device. This also means that a limiter is put upon her most of the time, lowering her rank to A and thus preventing inadvertent warping of the time-space continuum. Unlike Nanoha's, Hayate's magical power is not natural but is a result of her Linker Core merging with that of the Book of Darkness (that is, Reinforce's). Possibly as a result of this, most of the spells she displays in the series have long casting times and/or require arias.

However, Hayate's enormous power output is not indicative of her performance in actual combat. As she explains in the manga, high mana reserves make it hard to process the energy quickly and to multitask, making Hayate a lousy combatant. In fact, she points out that of all the combat mages in Riot Force 6, the only one she could fight on equal grounds would be Caro, provided she didn't use any of her summons. This is also the reason why Hayate, an aerial mage, applied for a Synthetic rather than Air mage rank.

Hayate is one of the few modern Rare Skill users, having inherited the ability Collect and Use from Reinforce.

Transformation
After Unison, Hayate transforms into an able-bodied blonde mage, with Reinforce as her staff. Activated with the phrase "Blessed wind, Reinforce! Set up!"

Knight Armour
Hayate's costume consists of a black and white battle jacket over a black and yellow minidress, with a white, and three pairs of black wings. As she does not use the Mid-Childa magic system, it is not called a Barrier Jacket, but the purpose is largely the same. Hayate simply refers to this as her "armor (甲冑)".

Trivia

 * Hayate bears a passing resemblance to Mawari Zennigata from the anime/manga series .
 * It is possible that Hayate is based on Feng Lianfei (nicknamed 'Len') from Triangle Heart 3. Both characters have short hair, speak in Kansai dialect, and are good at cooking.