Hell Teacher Nube 23

Sometimes the best of intentions end up leading to more harm than help, possibly even being fatal! When Kyouko ends up releasing a strange phenomenon on a special day, will this ruin everything for herself...and for Hiroshi!?

#23: Doppelganger (One More Self)

147.
Narrator: WHEN YOU’RE WASHING YOUR HAIR IN THE BATHROOM, DON’T YOU FEEL WORRY THAT SOMEONE IS SUDDENLY THERE BEHIND YOU? THIS IS A DOPPELGANGER (ONE MORE SELF)…
(TN: And yes…she has pigtails when you don’t)

148.
Caption: February 14th: Monday, early morning—
SFX: ZA! | WA—WA—
SFX: So~~|Choi choi
Hiroshi: N? What, is that Kyouko? Its morning practice now…
SFX: GUI!
Hiroshi: Giee!!
Kyouko: In front of the swings in Doumori Park after school.
SFX: BO BO
Hiroshi: Huh?

149.
Kyouko: WILL YOU BE COMING, BECAUSE I HAVE SOMETHING TO GIVE YOU!
Hiroshi: Ah, yes!
Hiroshi: What do you have to give me?
Kyouko: You’ll know by thinking of what day is today! They’re light-brown things in a box!
Hiroshi: I’ve got it: it’s for a stool exam.
(TN: Hiroshi doesn’t say “stool” or “feces”, but literally “stool exam”, thus I ended up saying “it’s for” to make it sound a bit more sense)
Kyouko: Are you an idiot~~~~why would I give poop to you…
Kyouko: Uwattatto…
Hiroshi: He…hey.
Kyouko: GYA~~~
SFX: DOTAN BATAN GOKIN
SFX: GUCHA!

150.
SFX: BERI
Hiroshi: EH!?
SFX; SUU~~~
Kyouko: Ow ow, I completely hit my face.
Hiroshi: Are you alright?
Kyouko: Don’t mind me: don’t forget after school from here.
Hiroshi: Ah…alright. (to himself) What was that, it was like a ghost now…a hallucination to my eyes?

151.
Hiroshi: Well, Kyouko was lively, and what was that hallucination? Even so, why am I going in front of the swings in front of the park after school?
Voice 1: Did you know: today, February 14th, is—
Voice 2: Eh?
Nube: Are you playing dumb again~~here: Va – Le – N…
SFX: Hera hera hera
Ritsuko: Va? (?)
Ritsuko: VAN ALLEN BELT!
Nube: Yes: the line of magnetic force that surrounds the Earth…IS WRO~~NG!
(TN: Tiny addition regarding Nube’s “explanation”: the Van Allen radiation belt are energetic charged particles (plasma) held in place by the magnetic field. We got a little lesson on some of these circumstances in the Encyclopedia entry in chp. 10)
Hiroshi: Um, Nube, what day is today?
Nube: What, you don’t know kid? Well, it’s a day that has no relations to men who don’t have like you.
SFX: SHI SHI

152.
Hiroshi: Well then—Kyouko is aloof in giving me something. (HA HA HA) What is it? A light-brown thing in a box…
SFX: GOGOGOGOGOGO
Nube: YOU BRAT~~DON’T GO BOASTING SO HAPPI—LY!!
SFX: GURI GURI GURI
Hiroshi: !? !?
Nube: IF ONLY I COULD HAVE BEEN BORN TO RECEIVE DUTY CHOCOLATES LIKE THIS GUY.
(TN: “Duty chocolate” or “giri choco” is a cheap chocolate given by women to men on Valentine’s Day, usually returned by men giving women gifts a month later on White Day, March 14th)
Kyouko: …that dummy…!!
Hirsohi: Hiee!?
Kyouko: Really, if it were me, then it would have come to be rumored even under normal circumstances and yet! Why do I have these troubles in giving one box of chocolate…

153.
(Oh boy…Kyouko’s seeing double!)

154.
Kyouko: Eh? Whose that? I’ve seen her…somewhere…
Kyouko: That girl is…
Kyouko: ME!!
SFX: KUSU KUSU KUSU
Kyouko: NOO—
Nube: What? A Doppelganger!?

155.
Nube: …WHAT’S THAT?
Kyouko: Enough! In spite of being a spiritualist, you don’t know about that?
Hiroshi: Read this book!
Book: A GOOD CHILD’S WEIRD ENCYCLOPEDIA
Nube: A Doppelganger is “one more self” that constantly dangles out of the back of a person. Occasionally, its mischievous heart awakens, slips out as it pleases and does bad here and there. A person who sees their own Doppelganger will end up dead before long.
Nube: What is this (HA HA HA), it’s a made-up story for lower grades.
Hiroshi: But something slipped out from Kyouko’s body.
Nube: (HA HA) That’s your imagination, just imagination.
Nube: It’s harmless, so return to class.
Hiroshi: Te
Nube: You saw Kyouko’s Doppelganger?
Hiroshi: This morning; something about it?

156.
Nube: THIS IS BAD! A PEELED-OFF ERETHRAL BODY!
(TN: “Yuutai Hakuri” = “Peeled-Off Erethral Body”)
Hiroshi: Wh…what is that?
Nube: Other than their physical body, a human possesses an erethral body and a soul. In “death”, the erethral body and the soul become a set and slip out from the physical body, but, extremely rarely, just the erethral body peels off from the physical body. Though the soul is left in the physical body, they won’t die and the person won’t realize it’s there.
Two Kanji: YUU (“ERETHRAL”) | TAMASHII (SOUL)
Nube: A soul-like thing is seen slipping out from the sick elderly. Many return when they’re its in the midst of sleep, but at the interval they’re awake, they hardly ever return.
Nube: A Doppelganger is this unstuck erethral body. A person who sees it naturally will die before long. That’s because the physical body can’t live long without their erethral body.

157.
Hiroshi: What’s that: so then Kyouko…is going to die!?
Kyouko: ………
Nube: At any rate, I’ll go searching for Kyouko’s erethral body! Trust me with Kyouko!!
Hiroshi: Right!
Hiroshi: I beg you to, Nube!!

158.
Nube: S**t…this has become trouble…there are swarms of what’s like floating spirits in this town and I don’t know where to go since I don’t have the will of the erethral body itself. My only method is to have a very thorough search of this town.
Man: Waa---!!
“Kyouko”: After school……in front of the swings in Doumori Park.
SFX: FUWA

159.
Hiroshi: Nube, today was a self-study day…haven’t you found it yet?
Miki: Hi—ro—shi—kun: did you get it from Kyouko--?
Hiroshi: What?
Miki: What, it hasn’t come yet, huh, your Valentine… (Shi shi shi)
Hiroshi: Valentine…?
Hiroshi: Ah—right, that’s what February 14th was!! She…
Voice: It’s terrible—Hiroshi-kun!
Akira: Kyouko-chan suddenly collapsed and is in the infirmary!
Hiroshi: WHAT’S THAT!?
Nurse: What’s wrong with her!? Her pulse is rapidly weakening!
Hiroshi: It can’t be, that earlier…

160.
Miki: Please…just the two of them with Hiroshi.
Hiroshi: Uh…yeah…
Hiroshi: Ahaha…they’re exaggerated; everyone shouldn’t make a big deal.
Kyouko: It’s better not to hide it. I heard your conversation earlier.
Kyouko: I’m going to die. A person who sees a Doppelganger will die…
Hiroshi: Don’t speak stupidly!
Hiroshi: Nu…Nube will have your erethral body now! If he does…
SFX: SWEAT SWEAT
Kyouko: Right.
Hiroshi: ………
Hiroshi: YOU DUMMY—I don’t want any memento chocolates on the verge of your dea—th! Get better! If not , I won’t accept tho—se!

161.
Kyouko: I’ve…already…given them…
SFX: BORO
Hiroshi: KYOUKO!!
Hiroshi: Don’t die—if you die, I’ll…I’ll…
SFX: GARATSU!
Hiroshi: Nube!
Nube: Haa haa haa
Nube: Sorry…I searched around through town but…I couldn’t find it…
Nube: I completely don’t know where it would go since I don’t have the will of the erethral body itself! At least if I had a place she hoped to want to go to strongly just before it peeled off…they would be charmed by that place but…
Hiroshi: A place she hoped to want to go strongly just before.

162.
Hiroshi: NUBE, IT’S THERE! LET’S GO! IMMEDIATELY!
Nube: It’s actually in front of the swings of Doumori Park after school!? Is there something Kyouko was strongly thinking about in that place?
Hiroshi: Perhaps…
Hiroshi: But…perhaps Kyouko may not have thought strongly there…she’s always just quarreling with me…she’s just giving chocolate by duty…if that’s how it is, she may not come there…
Hiroshi: S**t…I beg you! Be there…
Sign: DOUMORI PARK
Hiroshi: God…!
SFX: Kii kii

163.
“Kyouko”: After school…Doumori Park…in front of the swings…
Hiroshi: Kyouko…
Nube: No, she’s not breathing anymore!
Hiroshi: Eeh!

164.
Nube: Namu Daiji Daihi Kyuugu Kyuunan Koudai Reikan Byakue Kanzeon: Kyouko’s erethral body—
Nube: RETURN--!!
SFX: ZUmu!
Hiroshi: Kyouko……
SFX: SHUUUU
Kyouko: Hiroshi…
Hiroshi: Kyouko!

165.
Kyouko: NOW TAKE THIS.
Hiroshi: Oh…oh.
Nube: AH AH, HEY, THOUGH THEY’RE CHILDREN.
Miki: Ama—zing, how dramatic!
Shuichi: Fu
Katsuya: If they come to show some faintness...
Makoto: Those two are in love after all.
Kyouko: THESE ARE DUTY. DUTY CHOCOLATES~~~
Miki: Hyu—hyu—
Katsuya: Your sickness earlier was a production.
Hiroshi: Put it aside already; you’ll end up exaggerating from hiding it.
Nube: TH…THANK YOU VERY MUCH…
Sign: DUTY (From Ritsuko)
(TN: This is merely the end of the continuity stuff this volume, a special chapter will follow next)

166.
NUBE-SENSEI’S GREAT YOUKAI ENCYCLOPEDIA

17. Doppelganger

There are people that see you in a place and time where you shouldn’t be going at all. People in this situation have seen your doppelganger.

There are many theories concerning the nature of the doppelganger, theories that it doesn’t possess a will at all and theories that it possesses an original personality and further it is a quite a mischievous being. In my thoughts, I think there are incidental doppelganger is mostly without will and incidental doppelganger that possesses a strong will by their strong grudges and thoughts.

In particularly the latter circumstances is called “a vengeful spirit”, feared by people since ancient times. There was a scene where Rokujou no Miyasudokoro, one of the lovers of Hikaru Genji in “The Tale of Genji”, was went mad with jealousy and cursed Yuugao and Aoi-no-ue to kill them, but isn’t that most extremely of a doppelganger that possesses a will?

Again a doppelganger seems to not have a situation where there is one to one person. Once many doppelgangers have appeared and a doppelganger from their own childhood now seems to loiter around within their house. But since the typical person only possesses one, they will die if their doppelganger becomes unstuck and is around for a day and night.

That reminds me of a story I have. A certain man fought and split up with his wife. However, just misfortune befell on that house from that day. When he investigated it, it was the action of the doppelganger of prior wife that was left behind. Because the former wife had already remarried another person and was living happily, the will of the doppelganger thoroughly would never erase from this period of separation.

(TN: Two notes:
1. “Vengeful Spirit” is actually in Japanese “Ikiryou”, which literally translates into “living spirit”
2. In a bit of further explanation of Rokujou no Miyasudokoro, she was at one point married to Genji and her jealousy and pride seeing him with other women, including Aoi-no-ue (his first wife officially) and Yugao (a young lover), made her vengeful spirit eminated from her, leading to their death. On the other hand, she did entrust her daughter to Genji. She has been said to be influenced by “Princess Yoshiko”, the Saiou (unmarried miko) of Ise Shrine from 936 to 945)

TN: Well, I guess you probably could call it happily ever after...considering Hiroshi got his poop...er, candy after all. (well who knows, maybe Kyouko did give him poop instead of candy...yeah it's gross but considering how little the idiot would notice, she could have gotten away with it and only just gotten the embarrassment of Miki and the rest of the class finding out) Though in some weird ways, while I did sort of get and liked we got a bit more emotion out of this chapter, it felt in some ways a tad cheesier than what we usually get between those two. It felt like I was reading some romance novel for girls...but hey, tear-jerker moments where a girl is about to die due to her erethral spirit leaving her body to sit on swings does end up leading to these sorts of moments. You could even see this as a happily ever after for Nube as well: not only saving Kyouko but finally getting some Van Allen...er, Valentine chocolate from Ritsuko-sensei! Maybe those two are getting somewhere after all and I think he better enjoy his growing successes with the female teacher (lest something ends up screwing this, like some new female in his life...or some female youkai like a bird-woman or a yukionna or a catgirl...nah, he'd be dead if he knew one of those things, they'd rip him to shreds or freeze him or do whatever they do). I really do love the facial expressions in this chapter, mostly in regards to Kyouko at the start and Ritsuko's quizzical and sparkly eyes with Nube early on. (there is Miki too...but it's Miki: she has weird faces all the time)

There is one more chapter in vol. 3 before we move on but, like in vol. 1, the next chapter is a one shot...that is even older than the second pilot! Next time: the first pilot!