Hell Teacher Nube 19

Nube prides having good kids in his class, but Katsuya has a record regarding not really acting as good as the others. Unfortunately, his delinquency may end up harming him in a bizarre school phenomenon...

#19: The Demonic 13 Stairs

68.
Narrator: There is “The Demonic 13 Stairs” in our school. Even though the staircase that continues to the rooftop of the old school has 12 steps during the day, it is said to count to 13 steps at night; and the student who steps on this 13th step has never come back ever again…
Sign: KEEP OUT
SFX: TON TON
Hiroshi: 9
Kyouko: 10
Katsuya: 11
Katsuya: 12!
SFX: DAN!
Katsuya: No matter how many times we count them, they end up as 12 steps.
Nube: I…I got 15 steps now.
Kyouko: You count differently.

69.
Nube: He—y, all of you, what are you doing in this place?
Kyouko: Ah, Nube.
Nube: Lunch break is over; return to the classroom quickly.
Kyouko: Hey Nube, is the story of the 13 stairs true?
Nube: That’s a rumor.
Nube: Well even if it was true, it won’t be seen by you guys. (HAHAHA)
Kyouko: ? What?
Nube: The Demonic 13 Stairs can only be seen by bad kids.
Hiroshi: What! That’s a remark that’s like the treatment of nursery school kids!
Kyouko: We should change his name to “Hell Kindergarten Teacher Nube”.
(TN: Kyouko’s “new name” for the series is in Japanese “Jigoku Hofu-san Nube”; “hofu” is in Japanese a “nursery school teacher/kindergarten teacher”, though with emphasis on male with the second kanji as the kanji for “father”)
Nube: HAHAHAHA (I don’t have bad kids--)

70.
Katsuya: Huh? Teacher has brought with some exorcism tools? What was his point for coming here?
Katsuya: ……?
Katsuya: “The 13 Stairs can only be seen by bad kids…? So then, it may be seen by me.
Katsuya: I am quite bad…(Fu--…)
Katsuya: I have stolen offerings from a shrine, I’m always riding the train for free, and now I’m smoking a butt thrown in the trash in the staff office…
(TN: Katsuya’s comment of “always riding the train for free” is a term of “Muchinjousha”, which is “riding free of charge”)
Caption: Automatic Turnstile

71.
Katsuya: Nube’s class is a class of good kids. I’ve gotten along with all of them for the moment, but I don’t quite feel them as “friends”…Somehow I have a hunch that just I am floating around them…
Katsuya: Ah—no, no, I’m fretting!
SFX: KASHI KASHI
Katsuya: ?
Nube: --For that reason, tomorrow will finally be a Simultaneous All-Nation Mock Exam. Those of you who aren’t confident in it should stay behind after school so you can have extra lessons--!
Students: EH~~~
Makoto: Ah, Katsuya-kun, are you taking the extra-lesons as well? Huh?
Makoto: Hello?
Makoto: HELLO~~~!? CAN YOU HEAR ME~~?

72.
Nube: Now—go at it with enthusiasm--! Aim for the best of the grade!!
Hiroshi: Oni.
SFX: KOSO KOSO…
Nube: We won’t lose to the other classes!!
SFX: KYORO KYORO
Katsuya: Everyone has well-diligently taken the extra-lessons. Wouldn’t it be better if I stole the exam paper!
Sign: STAFF OFFICE
Katsuya: However…that the expression of a delinquent…I may be of a different race from everyone after all…
SFX: GOSO…

73.
SFX: BIKU
“Snaggletooth”: Whose there!
Katsuya: Wh…what are you doing here?
“Snaggletooth”: What about you?
Page: Simultaneous All-Nation Mock Exam
Katsuya: What, you’ve come to steal the exam paper too!?
“Snaggletooth”: Eh? So, you’re also…
Katsuya: Hyo—shouldn’t we get along: I’m Kimura of class 3.
SFX: GASHI
Sasaki: Sasaki of class 4; we’re mutual baddies!
Katsuya: He—you’ve probably done alms stealing as well.
Sasaki: Not just that, I’ve been a shoplifting sinner many times!
Katsuya: Good…it’s not just me.

74.
Sasaki: You’re promising. Why don’t you join our team?
Katsuya: Eh?
Sasaki: Everyone is gathering on the roof…come along.
Katsuya: So…so then I’m in your group?
SFX: KOTSUN
Katsuya: Uwa!
SFX: GASHA—N
Sasaki: Dummy!
Nube: N? Did a burglar come in?
Hiroshi: It’s a burglar, stop the extra-lessons.
SFX: TATATATA
Nube: ……
Kyouko: Wasn’t that Katsuya? Where’s he going in this school with that other boy?

75.
Katsuya: Hehe: I feel at peace when I’m with him. He’s a similar leftover delinquent like I am. After all this…there is a guy who is a true “friend” as such.
Katsuya: Isn’t…this the Demonic 13 Stairs?
Sasaki: Aah, here’s where we go up.
Sasaki: Here, go. I’ll tell you the tale of the 13 Stairs.
Katsuya: Y…you know it?
Sasaki: 10 years ago…when there was a tempest of in-school violence in schools throughout Japan, there was an extremely delinquent student. He did whatever he wanted to, from greatly injured a teacher with a knife to attacking a tobacco shop and half killing the old store tender.

76.
Sasaki: However one day, he snuck in with a can of kerosene so he could set fire to the school. He was discovered by the night-watch official.
Sasaki: He ran up the stairs so he could run to the roof, but
Sasaki: His leg slipped and he fell, dying of a fractured skull.
Sasaki: Since then, the stairwell comes to have a 13th step at night; a step that has deep-red blood. The students who step on it are dragged into “The Bloody Room” and come to never return.
Sasaki: He wants to have friends…here, you like crowding with delinquents, right? Therefore, you’re aiming to meet just delinquent students as yourself.
Katsuya: Th…that’s right. (to himself) 3…4…
Sasaki: So, you’re not uncertain of us—?
Katsuya: 5…(out loud) Sto…stop that. Don’t support me. (to himself) 6…
Sasaki: You’re a sucker, hehehe…

77.
“Sasaki”: Here, go up quickly.
Katsuya: 10…11
Katsuya: 12…
Katsuya: THIS…IS BAD…THERE’S 13…
“Sasaki”: What’s wrong? Why did you stop?
Katsuya: Bubububut.
Katsuya: Ca…can’t we be scared!? We may be dragged within—there.
“Sasaki”: Don’t be scared or anything.
Katsuya: But, that dead delinquent…

78.
Sasaki: BECAUSE IT WAS ABOUT ME~~~!!
Katsuya: UWAAAAA!!

79.
Nube: !!
SFX: ZAN!
Katsuya: Le…let go—
Nube: KATSUYA—
Katsuya: HIII, THE BLOODY ROOM!

80.
“Creature 1”: YOU’VE PROPRELY COME
“Creature 2”: HERE IS DELINQUENT
“Creature 3”: PARADISE
Katsuya: HIIIIII!!
SFX: ZUZUZUZUZU
“Creature 1”: LET’S GET ALONG.
SFX: PICHA
Katsuya: Don’t do that—uwa—
“Creature 2”: DELINQUENTS ARE FELLOW DELINQUENTS
“Creature 3”: OUR FRIENDS.
Kyouko: Nube!! Katsuya has disappeared.
Hiroshi: Look, the bloody stairs are!
SFX: GOGOGOGOGO
Nube: I’ve made them rest in peace many times up until now but…they won’t lend even an ear to the sutras…
Hiroshi: Eh!!

81.
Nube: I’ll be indulgent because they’re children, but they were unpleasant…Katsuya isn’t your ally!
Nube: HA!!
SFX: KUZA
Katsuya: TEACHER—
“Creature 1”: IF I THINK OF WHO THIS IS, ITS THAT OFFICIAL WHOSE ALWAYS CHANTING SUTRAS.
“Creature 2”: HE WON’T GET IN THE WAY OF HIM BECOMING OUR ALLY.
SFX: HI HI HI
Katsuya: Save me~~teacher~~I hate being friends with these guys!
Nube: Let go of Katsuya! Or else I’ll cut down all of you with the Oni no Te!

82.
“Creature 1”: HIHIHI, IF YOU CAN DO IT, THEN DO IT.
“Creature 2”: WE DO KNOW: YOU DON’T INTERFERE WITH CHILDREN…
Nube: S**t…they…they’re saying they’re children…
Hiroshi: Katsuya, we’re going for you now!
Nube: Hiroshi!
Kyouko: YOU GUYS—LET GO FROM KATSUYA!
Katsuya: All of you…

83.
Hiroshi: Are you alright, Katsuya!
Katsuya: I’m sorry! My friends are all of you after all, I shouldn’t have taken them…!
“Creature 1”: KE, TRAITOR~~
“Creature 2”: IN SPIRE OF BEING THE SAME DELINQUENT AS US~~
“Creature 3”: JUST YOU INTEND ON BEING A GOOD CHILD~~
Nube: Give it up! Quit being rebellious and get out from there!

84.
“Creature 1”: NO WAY, WE’RE BETTER IN HERE.
“Creature 2”: WE HAVE FRIENDS IN HERE…SO BE RELIEVED WITH THAT…
SFX: SHUUUU
Nube: S**t.
Nube: Those bad brats…they’ll reform, no matter how many years it takes!!
Katsuya: ……
Katsuya: …Teacher.
Katsuya: Here, it’s the exam paper for our test now. I’m bad after all. My qualifications for being in your class is
Nube: No…you’ve properly reflected. You do have a heart.
SFX: PIRA…
Nube: So I forgive you.
Nube: Katsuya, people go together with those who have the same faults as themselves and it truly makes them relieved. It gives them peace. But with that, you’re the same as a loser who makes fun of the weak…true allies are people who grow up while compensating mutual faults…and thus there are many such allies for you…

85.
Nube: Let’s go: everyone should be studying with wisdom together now.
Miki: WA—WA—
Kyouko: Give up, give up.
SFX: DOTABATA
Nube: ALL OF YOU---!

86.
NUBE-SENSEI’S GREAT YOUKAI ENCYCLOPEDIA

15. Kokkuri-san and Self-Suggestion

Kokkuri-san and Angel-sama are widely known through spiritualism that can be done even by amateurs. However, a case where a spirit comes down is extremely rare in practice; it’s mostly a thing caused by self-suggestion.

In other words, it comes to be a moving ten-yen coin when it shouldn’t be moving, making you convinced that a spirit has come down (it’s actually moving by someone’s unconscious) and there comes to be a prediction. And thus, under the impression of “I can’t go home”, a trivial incident where you’re going around only exceeding simply unexpected chance will come to be thought of as entirely the act of a spirit. Before long, you’re trapped within the ultimate neurological disorder and come to destroy even your individuality.

Since it was merely self-suggestion, you will be saved if you can convince yourself “I can go home.” Therefore, people make up superstition that state “I can go home if I use a ten-yen coin” or “I’ll go home by making an exit on this paper” and believe them as they please. It’s fine to have a case of self-suggestion. But in truth, there have been situations where spirits do come down. When that happens, don’t use this trick. You’ll never go home with a real Kokkuri-san. And thus, whether it’s real or whether it’s self-suggestion really can’t be understood by an outsider.

Whether you cause a neurological disorder by self-suggestion leading to a breakdown of individuality or being possessed by a vulgar spirit and lead by them…it isn’t good no matter which befalls you. Kokkuri-san truly is an uneven game that causes great damages.

(TN: A couple things:
1. Well considering it hasn’t been brought up, I guess I can explain it a bit better here and now aside from what we’ve seen: Kokkuri-san, as it’s been explained in the chapter, is a divination style involving the communication of the spirit world and humans. Originally it involved a tripod with a pot, which the spirit who possesses it ends up moving back and forth with yes-and-no questions…but as you seen, it has eventually evolved to things which include this ouija-style version. BTW: there is a belief that three particular types of nature spirits who are usually “kokkuri-san” which make up the name: foxes (ko), tengu (gu) or tanuki (ri)…though considering the pig spirit in the coin, it sort of makes sense in it being way more vulgar.
2. I know this is after the “13 stairs” chapter and not the “Angel-sama” chapter, but sometimes the volume sort of doesn’t have the time or space to get it in exactly where the encyclopedia entry should be. “Angel-sama” actually ran a page longer than a typical chapter, therefore the volume just goes right into the “13 stairs” chapter and this entry, which is about the spiritual phenomenon in “Angel-sama”, is after the “13 stairs” chapter. This happens on occasion where a phenomenon has an entry after or even before the chapter which it is speaking about but its all structure for the most part going between the chapters and the volumes.)

TN: I know I may have mentioned this before, but it's sort of weird that Katsuya's "introduction" in the story was sort of differed between the manga and the anime. While the manga introduced him with the Hatamonba Temple story (which seemed more to emphasized his relationship with his sister alongside his more crooked nature), the anime introduces him with an interpretation of this chapter. To tell the truth, this chapter works perfectly in introducing him and does actually show Katsuya on his own instead of in relation with others outside the class. However, there is one slight thing that sort of shows the character development by what the mangaka intended that links this chapter back to the Hatamonba two-parter: Katsuya's self-admittance of stealing alms from a Shinto temple. It could work on it's own in some ways, but the problem is that it just works better having had Hatamonba before this. Yeah, there is the whole aspect that "he stole so he could pay off the tax on his sister's video game", but it just feels more natural knowing he did it before and having it as part of Katsuya's back-story than to have him admit to it here...and then have the Hatamonba incident later. So I guess in some ways this chapter is a better "introduction", but it also builds on Katsuya's actions from the Hatamonba chapter to allow for the developments this time around...therefore showing the genius of the character development in this series, where everything just fits together perfectly allowing for natural instead of forced character development.

The chapter itself was spooky, particularly how everything developed like a ghost story leading to the weird reveal. I know it probably would make sense that Sakaki would be the "delinquent who created the Bloody Room", but the way it was done was just creepy, sort of a bit like how the Large Marge incident occurred in "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure". You know a ghost story works when you are shocked when the reveal finally does happen. Meanwhile, the main focus of the chapter involved Katsuya's development and his "outside" nature compared to the "main group" as of this point. This does sort of eventually leads to him becoming closer to the main student group (to the point where he and Akira could almost be considered equals...for now), showing even someone like him could be seen as part of them. Meanwhile, the "mock test training" was a fun sub-plot and...yeah, Hiroshi can't count. (and so it begins) My only real weird complaint about the chapter is slight: where the heck did Makoto come from during the rescue? One moment it was just Nube, Hiroshi and Kyouko...and then Makoto fights the boys in the Bloody Room! (guess when you're that small...)