Hayate has been working since childhood to support his parents' reckless habits, switching jobs frequently due to being caught underage. His father is jobless and his mother is a compulsive gambler, leading to their financial ruin. Despite this, Hayate is an incredibly selfless and generous person who always tries to help others, even if it means putting himself at risk. He's independent and skilled in various areas such as cooking, cleaning, identifying fake artworks, and possesses superhuman strength, speed, endurance, retaliation, and agility. However, Hayate struggles with empathy and often misinterprets the feelings of those around him, including Nagisa. This may be due to his innocent personality and lack of experience in understanding girls' emotions. Despite this, others find him needy and poor-looking, but he believes that everyone hates him except children, whom he considers friends. Hayate is also a talented violinist. In spite of his bad luck, Hayate lives up to the title of "combat butler" by being proficient in defending against attacks from almost any source, including other butlers.
Despite his long held belief that he is unfit to be in a relationship due to his financial struggles he has openly admitted to loving Athena.
In Hayate no Gotoku! Cuties episode 8, he considers thinking about what would have happened if his parents werent kidnapped by the "nice people" and h