Hell Teacher Nube 22

When a spiritual phenomenon occurs, is it possible that it is beyond the knowledge of spiritual power? When a famed actress comes in with a strange affliction not even Nube understands, how can she be cured and save her career?

#22: The Nightly Snake

128.
Voice 1: She’s cute!
Voice 2: That smiling face is unbearable!
Article:
A RED CIRCLE IN THE MIDST OF A SUDDEN ZOOM RIGHT NOW
SAKURAI NAE-CHAN
BORN MARCH 12TH, 1982
PISCES, A-TYPE
FAVORITE TYPES:
KIND BIG BROTHERS
FAVORITE MANGA:
HELL TEACHER NUBE
(TN: Um…nice advertising yourself? Meanwhile, “Red Circle” is “Akamaru” in Japanese, which usually is a term used in conjunction with someone of focus)

Nube: Huh? That girl is…
Katsuya: What, you don’t know her, Nube?
Hiroshi: It’s Sakurai Nae-chan, the pretty girl idol!
Nube: An idol!? But this girl is still a grade schooler…
Katsuya: It isn’t that unusual recently.
Kyouko: The amazingness of thie girl isn’t just that she’s merely cute; she has pre-eminent acting skill. Nae-chan’s mother is already dead but since she was a super-famous actress…she’s descended from her.

129.
Kyouko: In particular, her performance in “Wandering Sun: Fierce Fighting Chapter”, which is the drama she’s doing now, is deeply emotional. As a girl raised in an orphanage traveling through Japan in search of her mother, she acutely transmits her pain and sadness.
Hiroshi: Yep, yep.
Katsuya: It is sad.
Hiroshi: Ah~~I want to be friends with Nae-cha~~n.
Kyouko: That’s impossible.
Principal: Nueno-kun, Nueno-kun!
Principal: There’s a visitor who wants an exorcism…
Nube: Ah—they’ve come here?
Nae: I’m Sakurai Nae…nice to meet you…
Principal: Can you sign this, I’m a fan…
Hiroshi & Kyouko: IT’S A LIE~~~!!

130.
Nube: Temporary paralysis?
Nae: It seems so: since already a week ago, my body suddenly can’t move as I sleep at night.
SFX: HYOI
Nae: Due to this, I haven’t slept at all while I’ve been here. Thus, I’ve heard a rumor of Nube-sensei…
Nae: At first, it was just some black mass that appeared, but recently it’s become like my body is being tightened by a large snake.
Nube: A snake…according to Freud, dreams of snakes is a symbol of a man…
Nube: Perhaps you can’t do it with a man you like, thus that dream…
SFX: GA—N
Principal: Th…that’s…
Nae: This wasn’t a dream!
Nae: There is a mark that I’ve been tightened by a snake on my body. Please look at it!

131.
Sign: SAKURAI
Nube: What are you two doing here?
Hiroshi: Hehe—well, can the hot-blooded boy Hiroshi-sama be silent with a beautiful girl in crisis?
Hiroshi: So I have a role in sleeping together with her…
Kyouko: I have a role in preventing that…

132.
Kyouko: Perhaps she’s possessesed by an evil spirit?
Nube: Hmm…I’ll do a spirit inspection now.
Nube: No…it’s just a Shugorei. It’s a woman dressed in Japanese clothing…like she’s blood relative but…
Nae: My mother! My dead mother is my Shugorei…!?
Nae: I can be relieved being protected by mother…how good…
Hiroshi: She’s sleeping peacefully.
Nube: How sad…she is quite tired…
Nube: This may not be connected to a spirit.
Hiroshi: Eh?

133.
Nube: It well happens: symptoms that well resemble temporary paralysis by gathering up fatigue and stress is a kind of nervous disorder where you can’t move even if you want to move your body, due to waking up with mental strain in your head even though your body is tired and goes to sleep.
Nube: Spiritual paralysis is known as “Muma” (Incubus): a mass that is a black haze that starts on top of the stomach.
(TN: I’ll explain this clearer in the Encyclopedia section)
Nube: This girl’s situation is a nervous disorder that came about from work fatigue. Well, we’ll set up just some fuchi for her concern.
Hiroshi: They’re set up to shay when a spirit draws close.
SFX: KACCHIN KOCCHIN
SFX: PIKU

134.
SFX: PISHII
Nae: Uh…
Nube: !
Kyouko: It came!?
Hiroshi: ?
Nube: No…I don’t see anything…
Kyouko: But she’s in that much pain.
Nube: But a spirit isn’t coming…is she having a nightmare?
Nae: Haa haa (internal) Te…teacher, save me…
Nae: It’s coming…it’s coming closer…
SFX: ZURU!

135.
SFX: DOSUN!
Nae: KU…
Hiroshi: Something is happening after all!
Nube: That’s ridiculous!? I don’t see anything!?
SFX: SHAAA~~~
Nae: NOOO~~~!!

136.
Nube: NAE-CHAN!?
Nae: Ah ah
SFX: GISHI GISHI GISHI
Hiroshi: Nube, what are you doing? Hurry! Exorcise it!
Nube: Even if I said I could exorcise it…What can I do with a spirit that doesn’t exist…
Nube: The fuchi are having no reaction at all! There isn’t a spirit in here! And yet how…
Hiroshi: That’s enough!!
SFX: DON!
Nube: Hiroshi!

137.
Hiroshi: Nae-chan! Get up! Open your eyes!
Nae: WAA—
Nube: So stupid.
Nube: Is there a spirit even I can’t see!? No…that shouldn’t be so…! Never…Probab ly…perhaps…
Sign: SHUEI FILM STUDIO
Nae: Mother!!
Nae: Wait, you can’t leave me behind…
SFX: FURA
Voice: Cut, cut!!
Director: What, what—this acting you’re letting out—this isn’t a school arts festival—can’t you do this much smarter, dummy!

138.
Director: What? You don’t have strength with your lack of sleep? How could you have that reason, dummy?
SFX: SLAP
Nae: I…I’m sorry!
Staff 1: Hyo~~the director lost his temper!
Staff 2: It’s because he feels we’re falling behind with filming…
SFX: WHISPER WHISPER
Nube: Nae-chan.
Nae: Teacher.
Nube: Your paralysis is caused by stress…it isn’t a spiritual thing. Haven’t you quit being an actress in the bottom of your heart? Due to this, a non-existent illusion has…
Nae: Even teacher…is saying that I’m such a coward?
Nae: My mother…was an extremely prominent actress. I had been thinking all along since I was young of being like my mother.

139.
Nae: However on that day, when I came on a field trip by chance, the set came to collapse in an accident. Mother became crushed to protect me…and died.
Nae: Therefore, I must become a prominent actress, doing my best even for my mother! I’ve become timid with how painful it is and I don’t want to run away. I am an actress!
Nube: Right…I thought you were an idol who was just cute, but I was wrong. The one who became timid and had to run was, rather, me.
Nube: I believe your words! I will certainly defeat the evil spirit that is causing pain to you!
Nae: Teacher!
Nube: However…

140.-141.
Nube: It would be fine…if I had whatever exactly was the means to fight it.
Director: Al—right, scene 120! The mother-daughter reunion on top of the suspension bridge!
Nube: My opponent is a spirit I can’t see…
Nae: Right!
Director: It’s the climax! Put in your fighting spirit!
Staff 1: Really…this is quite absurd he is forcing this due to filming falling behind!
Staff 2: It’s because we made this large set in only one week…that we decreased even the number of stake posts!
Nube: A week…that’s the same as when Nae’s paralysis started…
Director: Al—right, start!
Nae: Mother!! You’re alive!!
SFX: GISHI
Nae: Eh!?
SFX; ZOKU

142.
Nae: KYAAAAA!! (to herself) NO! AT THIS IMPORTANT MOMENT!!
Nube: Nae!?
Director: That brat…you’re fired! You ham~~
Nube: No, I can’t see it! The snake form isn’t anywhere…what’s there is just Nae’s Shugorei…
Nube: It can’t be…?
Nube: No, I’m thinking just this! If that’s the spiritual paralysis…then the spirit that got near to Nae can only be that Shugorei!
Director: Hey, you!
SFX: KATSU

143.
Nube: I HAVE THE POWER TO COMMUNICATE WITH SPIRITUAL BODIES WITH THE ONI NO TE! NAMU DAIJI DAIHI KYUUGU KYUUNAN!!
Nube: ……It’s that after all!
Nube: The snake monster that couldn’t be seen was an illusion shown by your mother who became your Shugorei. It’s a kind of telepathy, a hotline-like thing that can only be understood by the person itself.
Nae: Wh…why?
Nube: Your mother is communicating something to you!!
Nae’s Mother: Please run.

144.
Nube: What!?
Director: Hey~~you greenhorn there! What are you doing intruding on filming—
Nae’s Mother: You’re in danger, quickly this moment.
Nube: Don’t come! This is a warning: this set is…
Director: What?
SFX: BUCHI BUCHI BUCHI
SFX: DOGAGAGAGA

145.
Nube: Perhaps…your mother knew this accident would occur. Therefore, she came down for this reason and showed you those dreams…because she can communicate with you without spiritual powers only by dreams.
People: WA—WA—WA—
Nae: My mother has been watching over me all along even from her death…th…THANK YOU, MOTHER!
Narrator: Eventually, the televising of that episode came to be delayed a week. And as a replacement program:
(TN: “Anaume Bangumi” = “Program to fill in the gap”, thus “Replacement Program”)
Narrator: They televised a special program with Nube but…
Nae: You can do this, Teacher—
Nube: So…so then, we will exorcise this cursed Ichimatsu Do…Doll…
SFX: KACHIN KOCHIN
Sign: SPIRIT SPECIAL
Director: Hey—you haven’t moved since earlier—
Kyouko: Nube has this sort of weakness: now he’s become paralyzed.

146.
NUBE-SENSEI’S GREAT YOUKAI ENCYCLOPEDIA

16. Muma (Incubus)

Listening to the story of people who have said they’ve been paralyzed, there are many situations where there usually is an object that is a black, round haze around above their stomach or chest. This is a youkai called a “Muma” (Incubus).

Incubus has a meaning of “Appearing Above” or “Coming Upon” in Latin. This is a variety of lust spirit appearing only towards girls in puberty. And thus with bawdy acts befalling them, the female can become pregnant. A child born while with an incubus is said to possess powerful magical powers.

A model example is “Rosemary’s Baby”, Ira Levin’s novel which also became a movie.

Contrasting to this, there are also female Muma who appear specifically for men. Opposing the male Muma, which mostly can’t come to have a distinctive face as merely a black mass, a female Muma generally takes the form of a beautiful woman without equal. And thus it tempts a man and sucks up their spirit. This sort of story is in every country of the world, with one or two in a room said to emerge as the ghost at hand generally when you go to an old hot-springs hotel in the heart of the mountains. But while it seems to feel really good in this way they are killed, they seemed to have died with a peaceful sleeping face that’s like they’ve seen heaven when the master of the Japanese ryokan goes to peep in by the morning. Since they’re fine with ghosts, people who think it’s satisfactory if they’re killed by a beautiful woman may be fine in testing it out. However these ugly men are no good, feeling that they’re liked even by a ghost. Since they can’t get a human woman, then even a ghost…it seems 8-to-9 cases are unreasonable.

(TN: A few notes here:
1. “Muma” generally has a meaning of “nightmare”, but it also has a meaning of “incubus” or “succubus”, thus why the entry was given the Japanese name of “muma” with “incubus” in parenthesis
2. It’s really hard to say that “Rosemary’s Baby” is really a tale about an incubus…considering the main character has sex with the devil thanks to the manipulations of a satanic cult! Anyway, the novel originally came out in 1967 and the film, directed by Roman Polanski, came out a year later in 1968
3. The female “Muma” are obviously “succubus” as you probably can assume, the female opposite of the Incubus. You’ll be finding out a bit more on both of them in a chapter much later on.
4. So I wouldn’t confuse people, I translated “ryokan” as a “Japanese ryokan”; specifically it’s a type of bed-and-breakfast inn with tatami mats and communal baths; they’re usually more seen as rural staying locations outside of cities like Kyoto where it is more natural with it’s older feel)

TN: I guess in a way you probably could call this chapter a "filler" or a "diversion" considering it really isn't that much of a connection to Nube or his class. But in a way it sort of is a chapter that shows that Nube is willing to help all those young and in need of assistance outside his class, allowing for us to see him under different circumstances than his usual classes. We get a few of these here and there and I guess it's up to you to take or leave them but they are interesting when done right. I did actually like this chapter though: Nae's scenario regarding having a spiritual problem but being completely bound to her mother trying to protect her from performing a shoddy climax to her TV show was a nice twist and showed that not even Nube himself knows everything there is to know about common spiritual phenomenon, even Shugorei such as this. (which he seemed to rather know a bit about back when Kyouko's was switched) While it isn't a problem to me, I know a few people probably are wondering about all these near-nude 11-12 year old females at this point...it's an artistic decision so I guess you just have to live with it if you want to keep reading Nube from here on. (there isn't too often it occurs but with recent events in the world you sometimes have to worry) Though I did have a huge chuckle about Hiroshi's obsession with sleeping with Nae...and Kyouko with a baseball bat preventing him from getting...too close. (but those two...we'll get more from them next time)