Hell Teacher Nube 59

The supernatural can end up being trivialized into fun and games, but there still is a sense of danger. Take a little game even you can play along with...just as long as you don't take it way too far... (just like Miki tends to do...)

#59: The Erethral-Body Pulling Game!

168.
Miki: It’s Mi~~ki! (heart) Today we’re commemorating a year of serialization—I’m going to teach to all of you an incredible interesting spirit game. It’s called…
(TN: While quite a bit past the “year” point in the serialization of Nube [honestly a year in chapters not counting any breaks is 48 chapters and this is chapter 59…thus Jump probably never had the chance to do this until close to three months later], this chapter, which was in color, was the 1-year anniversary as celebrated by the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine)
*This is a game that came to have a big boom in schools when the author was in grade school.
Miki: The Erethral-Body Pulling Game!
(TN: The name of the game in Japanese is “Yuutai Hippari Game”; “yuutai” is “erethral body” while “hippari” is a modification of “hipparu”, which is the verb for “to pull”, “to drag” or “to draw”)

169.
Miki: First, draw out the power of the body, dull an arm and lower it—
Miki: Strike the front and back of the hand three times each.
Miki: Stroke the surface like you’re rubbing the erethral body. (If you’re feeling a warm thing, it’s OK!)
Miki: And then you pull the erethral body several times like you’re pulling a string. Please quickly repeat this many times.
Miki: And thus…!
Kyouko: Ah…ah…you’re kidding…my hand is…being pulled up…
SFX: Gugugugu…
Caption: 100% successful! It’s extremely easy!

170.
Nube: Dowahhahahaha
Uvula: Nu
Nube: Dahahahaha; that’s absurd! That erethral-body pulling game is a lie—
Miki: What? Excuse me.
Kyouko: Kya—kya—
Nube: Really, from where did you hear that nonsense?
Miki: I heard it from an older girl next door. It was popular long ago.
Kyouko: It’s for real. My arm moved by itself!
Nube: Understood, understood.

171.
Nube: That I’m certain is the same as hypnotism. Your hand was raised because you gave a suggestion saying to rise. Finish up your foolish playing……
SFX: Ki—n ko—n ka—
Nube: N
Nube: It’s popular……
Boy 1: Ooh! It was raised!
Boy 2: Amazing—I did it too.
Girl: No~~o, it really was pulled out~~
Caption: Afternoon
Nube: Hey, Hiroshi, are they still doing that?
“Test Page”: Math | Tateno Hiroshi – 0
Hiroshi: Huh? Ah…yeah. It’s popular among the girls.
Nube: That’s fine. It is merely suggestion is it?

172.
Nube: That’s fine but…
Kyouko: Noooo, you lifted my leg—
(TN: Wait…Noro-chan? That girl from back in vol. 4? [the same one “bullied by Kaneda”] Well…they did refer to that Ichimatsu girl twice so maybe it’s just reusing concepts)
Caption: Up to here can be done by 90% of anyone.
Miki: Al—right, alright: right hand, left hand, right foot left foot; comple—tely successful.
Miki: This really is the erethral-body pulling game after all. (to herself) I have a feeling I’ve become a petty spiritualist.

173.
Miki: Al—right, so next we’ll test it on your entire upper-body!
Kyouko: Eh—I’m already tired~~ switch me with some other person.
Miki: Your body is best: it’s the most sensitive. So, I’ll draw power from your entire body!
Kyouko: Enough Miki—
SFX: Momi momi (squish squish)
Miki: Amazing, ama—zi—ng, I’ve done it; I’ve done it--!!
SFX: Gugugu…
Caption: This too can be done by 70% of anyone.

174.
SFX: Bari
SFX: Gon!
“Kyouko”: ?
Miki: What’s the matter, Kyouko…? He—y, flat-chested.
“Kyouko”: …………
Miki: What’s wrong, Kyouko; steady yourself! You’ve fainted…you can’t have; have you died? I still haven’t gotten back yet that CD I borrowed from you.~~

175.
Miki: Don’t die~~it’s no good if you die!
SFX: Bishi bashi bishi
Kyouko: What are you exposing—to me!
SFX: Kapo kapo
Miki: Ara, she’s alive.
Miki: But what exactly did—you do now~~
Kyouko: N? H…how do I say it…I felt like I was floating on the ceiling, somehow weightless.
Nube: Eeh? An erethral-body separation?
Kyouko: It’s true—when my erethral body was pulled, it flew out…
Hiroshi’s Headband: 0s are horrible
Sheet: Supplementary Exam
Nube: Worthless; weren’t you seeing a dream?
Kyouko: It’s true! I clearly saw my own body from the ceiling……
Nube: At any rate, you’re banned from playing that.
Miki: Eh—why---?

176.
Nube: If it’s banned, it’s banned! It’s banned with needless dialogue!
Caption: Unsparing
SFX: Ka—
Nube: What’s with that attitude! In spite of him being the youkai Mayugeruge!
(TN: There really isn’t a youkai called “Mayugeruge” in reality but, aside from Miki commenting about Nube’s obviously huge/bushy eyebrows [maygue = eyebrow], the creature may be referring to a monster from the 1972 Toei tokusatsu series “Choujin Barom 1” (Superman Barom 1), which is the only one that actually exists with that name)
Kyouko: I’m sure this actually may be dangerous with Nube becoming serious with that…
Miki: Al—right, if that’s what it’s come to, then I myself will do an erethral body separation. If I do that, then I’ll prove that this game is the real thing. Kyouko, please assist; if you decline then I’ll expose your breaking of the glass in the staff room the other day.
Kyouko: ………
Kyouko: …Why are you expressly in your underwear?
Miki: The effectiveness is higher when you directly touch the skin.

177.
Miki: Now do it at once without giving a complaint.
SFX: Se se se
Kyouko: Wh—y do I have to do this…
Narrator: And thus, dozens of minutes later…
(TN: The “dozens minutes” in Japanese isn’t merely just “a few minutes”; in Japanese it is “suujuubungo” or “many tens of minutes”)
SFX: Kui kui
SFX: Fuwa
Miki: Eh; I…did it—erethral body separation was successful---!!
Miki: Ooh, I’m falling out of the ceiling. This is fun~~
SFX: Suu
Miki: A…amazing, it’s like I’ve become air. This is an amazing experience—

178.
Miki: Aah, such great weather. This is the greatest—feeling.
SFX: Fuwa fuwa
Miki: But it’s boring to merely just fly around—can’t I do something else since I’ve finally become an erethral body?

179.
Nube: What’s that!?
Nube: Miki’s consciousness hasn’t returned!? Idiots! Are you still playing that game!!
Nube: This is a variety of hypnotism, but erethral-body separation is an inducement technique. In other words, erethral-body separation, which is hard to perform on your own, can be done by borrowing the hands of an outsider.
Kyouko: Eh?
Nube: I was silent because I was amused that Miki said it was real and thought she would do it too much.
Kyouko: So, where did erethral-body Miki go to?
Nube: Strange…she should have returned on her own due to having will but—
Nube: This is the occurrence of some sort of accident to the erethral body.
Kyouko: Eeh!?

180.
Nube: Namu Daiji Daihi Kyuugu Kuyunan Koudai Reikan—
Kyouko: Wh…what is that string……
Nube: A silver cord.
Nube: Usually it’s a lifeline that connects the physical body and the erethral body. If this is cut—you die.
Nube: If we follow this, we’ll find Miki’s erethral body.
Kyouko: U…understood; as expected of you Nube.

181.
Kyouko: It seems to have gone extremely far.
Hiroshi: So, if the silver cord is cut part-way?
Nube: ……
Kyouko: It…it will be fine. This Miki won’t die so easily.
SFX: Dododododo | Bukya—
“Cats”: Nya—nya—nya—nya—nya—nya—nya—nya—

182.
“Calico”: Nyu~~Bie~~!! Nyan Nyu Nyave Nye~~!!
(TN: It is rather notable in Japanese that the “sound” that cats give off is represented as “nya” as opposed to “meow”. As for “this cat”…it ends up giving off a nya-ing that is similar to Japanese, going off as “Nyu~~be~~!! Nyanyunyenye~~!!”, which essentially translates into “Nube, tasukete” or “Nube, save me!!” I expanded “save me” a bit to “Can you save me” in “nya” mostly so I could have the four “nya” parts that it is saying to Nube)
SFX: Dododododo

183.
Kyouko: Ah…that cat, it can’t be.
Nube: ……
Hiroshi: Nube!! That cat’s means of speaking is strange!
Nube: ---No~~she’s in heat and has that strange way of speaking.
“Calico”: Nyu—Bie—Nyu—Bie—
Kyouko: That isn’t the cry of a female in heat.
Kyouko: L…look: she’s writing characters with her claws.
Nube: Aah--? Isn’t that by chance?
SFX: Gari gari
Characters: Mi|ki
Kyouko: Hey, that calico cat is strange after all.
Nube: Not really…isn’t she a typical “calico Miki”?
(TN: This joke works way better in Japanese than in English: what Miki has “become” in Japanese is “mikeneko”, which is a “tortoise-shell cat”, which is a female cat born with multiple color fur with patches of black, white, orange and other colors. [Calico is a variety of these cats mostly with white, red and black fur…though with this coloring, it was just easier to call her a calico] However, Nube puns here by changing it from “mikeneko” to the obvious “mikineko”…the closest I could make with the pun was “Calico cat”/”Calico Miki”, but I really wish I could have done the Japanese joke due to the pun being perfect)
Nube: No…she’s an extremely popular cat.
Miki: Nyo~~~~

184.
Hiroshi: Nube! Isn’t that cat Miki?
Kyouko: You did that knowing that!! (If you don’t do it quickly, won’t she come to being a bride!)
Nube: ……………… (I’ve been exposed…)
Nube: There.
SFX: Supo—n!
SFX: Fuwa fuwa
Nube: Well—was that an amusing experience?
Miki: Eh~~awfully~~

185.
Miki: For that reason
Miki: I magnificently experienced erethral-body separation.
Miki: Can’t humans have various experiences after all? (heart)
SFX: Bori bori (scratch scratch)
Nube: She didn’t learn her lesson.
Kyouko: The Erethral-Body Pulling Game this time rarely leads to erethral-body separation, but good children shouldn’t imitate this.
(End of Vol. 7)

186.
7th Place: TAKAHASHI RITSUKO (2,119 VOTES)
Nube’s impertinent female. She really hates super scary ghost stories. She’s resigned to be a merely a flashy madam and is an extremely splendid female teacher who throws away even her life for her students!

-Her chest is huge! Is she ill at ease with that?
(TN: That pic and the “shocked” one beneath it…well, that’s from the next volume, so you won’t get what’s going on until then)
-Many of what she wears are for some reason indecent outfits. (#9: The Strolling Ghost)
-First class natural airhead
-TRAGEDY….!!

187.
Makoto: Buy Volume 8 too! It’s a promise!
(TN: Makoto…this is probably as big he’s ever going to get)

188.-189.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF 8TH AND BELOW:
On top of the related period of polling, there are even characters in this that aren’t in the volumes yet. Then again, there really were many votes after all for characters introduced in stories around the period of the poll.
(TN: What they’re talking about here is essentially a strange phenomenon that usually happens whenever a Jump series has a popularity poll: while many obviously end up voting for characters that they’ve known from the beginning, many end up just voting for newly introduced or barely shown characters, some as recent as the chapter the poll is taking place! It does end up skewing the poll a bit and many of these characters do end up forgotten or not really having that much popularity on later polls…but sometimes there are notables who do emerge even with one appearance close to that poll…like the character that takes 11th…luckily all of the unknown characters will be in the series by vol. 8, so you don’t have to wait long to find out who they are)

8th: ISHIKAWA-SENSEI: He’s in 8th (!?) somehow!!
9th: KIMURA KATSUYA
10th: TAMAMO KYOUSUKE (YOUKO): Has overwhelmingly many female fans.
11th: HAYAME (MERMAID)
12th: SHIRATO SHUICHI
13th: ZASHIKI WARASHI
14th: KAZAMA-KUN: He has a rarely frequent role and yet
14th: YUKIBE
16th: KANEDA MASARU: We thought he would be much lower
16th: TAMAKO (NEKOMATA)
18th: YAMAGUCHI AKIRA: Is his surprisingly low rank due to having few appearances recently…!?
19th: PRINCIPAL
19th: OOTSUKI-SENSEI: This story is fiction.
(TN: Well now that the whole list is revealed, I probably can make a bit of a comment about it. In particular, a few notes regarding placement regarding where the cast is and how they ended up there:
-Nube being first…is obvious: while there are many shonen where the lead doesn’t ever take first, Nube is…well, Nube. As the lead, of course he’s going to take first and overwhelmingly supported compared to other cast members.
-Honestly I thought Kyouko was going to rank higher than Hiroshi…but I take the author’s comment honestly: it’s a shonen and male leads usually take higher ranks than female ones. Then again…Miki in 4th makes sense
-Makoto in 5th is a tad surprising but the little guy has done quite a bit in the series so far.
-Probably one of the most peculiar and interesting facts from the published vote results: Yukime beats Ritsuko…but only by 10 votes. Obviously Ritsuko had the head-start, but Yukime proved herself in such a short time (and with essentially 3-4 chapters by this position) to defeat her in voters. Maybe you could also factor in how little Ritsuko was used for a while…but then again this vote was around a massive game-changer for her so that could have helped her immensely.
-Ishikawa in 8th…um…yeah. That…was weird. Considering he’s just a perverted, dirty gym teacher…um, I can’t explain it either.
-You’d probably expect Tamamo to be higher but 10th isn’t too bad for someone who hasn’t even appeared since vol. 2 (aside his little “cameo” in that haunted house
-Hayame in 11th…without revealing anything about who she is until next volume, let’s just say sometimes first impressions can be massive. Strangely while other characters like Kazama, Yukibe and Tamako can all be associated with the “closeness” phenomenon I mentioned, it’s really hard to say that for Hayame with how high she ranked. [though I do want to know how close she was to Tamamo in rank]
-Akira in 18th essentially is the culmination of his strange plummet that I’ve mentioned before. When the Nube concept started, he was meant to be a lead, seeing how he was influenced from the Akira of “Devilman” [just like Miki was based slightly off “Devilman”’s Miki]. But by now…two chapters as a lead and overtaken by Katsuya in the “big five” students. [heck even Shuichi and Kaneda have more support…let alone Kazama who isn’t even in that class!] He really hadn’t had too much to really speak about (I mean one chapter was more about his mom being a manipulative idiot than about Akira himself) which could explain why Akira’s support plummeted from the start to now, but he gets more interesting from here, I guarantee that
-And Ootsuki-sensei…yeah, you’d probably think they wanted him lower. But aside BG appearances, he really isn’t that significant any further.)

TN: Well...I guess this makes Miki a catgirl now...huh? Well maybe not technically but if Nube left her in the cat's body, she would be feline permanently for the stunt she just tried to pull. However, this chapter essentially continues to show the evolution of Miki's character even if it was more just a foolish one for fun. Not merely just a participant or even one who seems to dare the supernatural for cheap thrills, Miki literally is able at this point to even mess with erethral-body separation just to have fun with things that are way beyond her control...and end up screwing her up in the end! We do see that Miki's obsession with the supernatural no longer also has her merely running along with the latest trends but showing her doing research and looking up the latest ways she can scheme in using powers to her own advantage, thus drawing out the erethral-body game that she ends up messing around with Kyouko with. Of course you could say that considering she sort of has Rokurokubi abilities, the ability to draw Miki's erethral body out really doesn't mean much if it's done to her. Though...I do wonder why Nube was using Hiroshi's bad grades to investigate what the girls were doing...considering he knew that Miki would go all the way to a point of no return and Hiroshi...is as dumb as a brick and has to take a make up anyway...it really doesn't mean much to ask him aside tormenting him with his 0s.

Well with that said, the volume is over and the next one is on the way. I already made mention above but be prepared to finally find out about a few of those mysterious characters on the popularity poll in this volume. Heck, we may even find out a bit more about one of the girls who pops right back in with this chapter! (who expected that "Noro-chan" to reappear...I expected them to forget about her!)