Hell Teacher Nube 68

For the longest time, she has been the one most disturbed by Nube and against his weird behavior. But in incident that pushes her to her limit, Ritsuko-sensei is about to go through a crisis...that may change everything...

#68: Youkai Shoukera Peeps from the Window

171.
Caption Box:
Takahashi Ritsuko-sensei
Doumori Elementary Class 5-2 Homeroom Teacher
A beauty with a nice body
Nube’s Longed-For Woman; Age 24

172.
“Narrator”: Thinking about it now…it may have been an illusion…
Voice: Ritsuko-sensei.
Ritsuko: Yes?
Nube: I…I’m giving you this…
SFX: Kiran
Ritsuko: Eh!?
Ritsuko: A pearl necklace!? I can’t take this thing……
Nube; No, no, it’s fi—ne; because it was cheap!
Ritsuko: But being given this by Nueno-sensei, I’m certain that it’s a cursed necklace where its owners have died one after another?
Nube: You’re cruel, Ritsuko-sensei.
Ritsuko: Ri…right, it shouldn’t be that.

173.
Ritsuko: Ara, the price tag……
Nube: Ah—you’re forbidden from taking that off.
SFX: Pi
Ritsuko: Why? But isn’t this the price tag?
Nube: It’s a charm.
(TN: This is a weird language joke: both “nefuda” and “ofuda” use the same “fuda”, a kanji which has the meaning of “tag”. However, “nefuda” uses the kanji for “price” at the start, leading to it being translated as “price tag”; the “o” in “ofuda” is “governing” or “manipulating”, thus making it ultimately translate into “charm”)
Charm: Akuryou Taisan (Be Gone Evil Spirit)
SFX: Oooooh
Nube: It’ll be fine: I’ll properly exorcise it and when you use it…gue!
SFX: Doka baki gusha
Ritusko: Kya—wasn’t it a cursed necklace after all; kya—
Ritsuko: Really! Why is it he just scares me day after day, in spite of knowing that I hate scary stories!

174.
Ritsuko: Making matters worse, he occasionally sets up those large-scale monster tricks degenerately!
*To know of this, read comic Vol. 6, now on sale with rave reviews.
(TN: A bit of back-up: read vol. 4 to know of the Rokurokubi incident with Miki; vol. 6 will just explain the whole ordeal with the tanuki…then again it was partially Ritsuko’s fault for those weird “monster” comments creating that big guy in her imagination)
Ritsuko: On top of that, he seems to be hanging out with these new women alternately...at any rate, I really hate that irresponsible man!
Caption: They’re all youkai…
(TN: You do have to wonder where Ritsuko is getting her knowledge regarding these “women”…heck, of all of them shown, the only ones we know Ritsuko saw/encountered were “the Porsche ghost” and Yukime…and it’s not like Yukime made things any better [heck, think of the whole scenario: Yukibe hops in her chest, Yukime makes “strange comments” about “her first time” (that never happened) and off goes Ritsuko…it’s not like anything Nube could recover from]. She never met Zashiki Warashi, the Kuchisake Sisters or Hayame so…who the heck is giving her the impressions of them?)
Ritsuko: Kazama-kun…he…he’s absent today too…
Ritsuko: Today it’s been a week since he was hospitalized.
Girl: His cold got worse and became pneumonia.
Ritsuko: I’ll visit him on my way home.
Sign: Doumori Hospital
Voice 1: You had a strange experience before you became sick?
Voice 2: Yes…

175.
Hiroshi: Well? Nube, is he possessed with something?
Nube: Hm~~m, I have to know much more, can’t we ask him…
Kazama: Thank you, Nube, for exactly listening to the story of me from the next class… (Keho keho|Cough cough)
Hiroshi: Let’s ea—t this mitsumame now.
(TN: “Mitsumame” is a Japanese dessert made of small cubes of agar jelly [a jelly made of red algae or seaweed], dissolved in water and served with boiled peas, gyuuhi [a softer mochi], shiratama dango and various fruits and usually with black syrup served with the jelly)
SFX: Gasa gasa
Nube: They’re just sweet things. I’m inclined to nutritious things; like this corned beef…
Kazama: Are you alright? Can I talk? Can you listen? Listen? (Keho keho)
Kazama: It was on my way home from school.
Kazama: Huh? Someone is on the roof of the next house? That’s dangerous; what will you do if youf all…
Kazama: !

176.
Kazama: No matter how I looked at it, it wasn’t human. It, who was noticed by me, smiled with a grin…
Kazama: And it had gone fleeing away to somewhere…
Kazama: The strange thing is that the next day, the grandfather in my house died. I’m sure…it was him.
Nube: Your health becoming worse was from there as well?
Hiroshi: Well? Nube? Is it a youkai?
SFX: Ban!
Nube: Ah, Ritsuko-sensei.
Ritsuko: Why has Nueno-sensei comino here!? Kazama-kun is a student of my class!
SFX: Zun zun zun
Nube: N…no, it’s because he’s a friend in Hiroshi’s soccer club… (It’s heart-throbbing to be this close to you)
Ritsuko: You’re lying! And yet you came to rummage for illness foods.
(TN: “Illness foods” was in Japanese “omimai no tabemono”; “omimai” is “a visit to someone who is ill”)

177.
Ritsuko: Please don’t tell scary stories to my student!
SFX: Kopakya!
Nube: ……
SFX: Batan!
Ritsuko: Your parents have things to do and won’t be coming today. Your teacher will be here instead.
Ritsuko: Why did you call that Nueno-sensei?
Kazama: Well…because only Nube will listen to that stupid story…
Ritsuko: Although it’s better if you consult with me, because I’m your homeroom teacher.
Kazama: Yes…but
Kazama: Whatever is said, it’s because Nube is special.

178.
Ritsuko: --How could that irresponsible teacher be popular?
Kazama: Irresponsible?
Kazama: You’re saying that, Ritsuko-sensei, because you don’t really know Nube. I think if you knew the real Nube, I’m certain you’d come to like him.
Ritsuko: I’ll come to like Nueno-sensei? That’s absolutely unbelievable…
Kazama: Geho geho geho…
Ritsuko: Kazama-kun! You’re vomiting blood!?
Ritsuko: I’ll call the nurse!

179.
Ritsuko: What is that?
SFX: Goro goro goro
SFX: Ka
Ritsuko: Something is dancing furiously on top of the roof…
Kazama: Uwaaa
SFX: Gaba!
Ritsuko: Kazama-kun!?
Ritsuko: It will be fine, because I’m calling the doctor now.
Kazama: He…he’s outside the window…

180.
Ritsuko:Kyaaaa
SFX: Bitaa—
SFX: Gee~~Bicha bicha bicha
Ritsuko: !!

181.
SFX: Gee gee gee~~~| Gata gata gata
Ritsuko: Ah…ah…ah
Ritsuko: It can’t be, it can’t be…that monster is after Kazama-kun…?
Ritsuko: …!
Ritsuko: You monster—
SFX: Gacha—n
Ritsuko: Get out, get out, get out—
Doctor: What? What’s that uproar?
SFX: Gashan baki dota

182.
Ritsuko: Let go—there’s a monster outside the window—
Doctor: No, she’s confused. The tranquilizer!
Ritsuko: !!
Nurse: Doctor, it’s terrible. Kazama-kun’s condition is.
Doctor: Understood, we’re going now!
Doctor: Really…that trouble-causing woman! At a moment where the student she teaches is suffering…
Ritsuko: No…if we don’t finish off that monster…Kazama-kun can’t be saved…
SFX: Gii…
Ritsuko: Hold on, Kazama-kun. Your life…

183.
Ritsuko: Will be protected…by me!!
SFX: Byuuu
Ritsuko: Please come out, monster! Your opponent is Ritsuko-sensei!
Ritsuko: !
SFX: Kan

184.
(Oh boy…a massive monster vs. a teacher with no spiritual power…good luck, Ritsuko-sensei)

185.
SFX: Kura | Gasha
Ritsuko: No…I’m scared after all!! My legs are cramped and I can’t move!
Ritsuko: I’m sorry, Kazama-kun, your teacher wasn’t able to protect you.
Ritsuko: I’m sorry.
Voice: Namu Daiji Daihi Kyuugu Kyuunan!!

186.
Nube: Koudai Reikan Byakue Kanzeon
SFX: Bari bari bari
“Youkai”: Gyaa!!
SFX: Dosaa
Ritsuko: Nueno…sensei!?

187.
Ritsuko: That’s…that Nueno-sensei…!? Whose always, always with that lax face and just looking at my chest and butt..is…!?
Hiroshi: Nube…wa, what is that monster?
Nube: Shoukera…a kind of plague god.
(TN: A couple things:
-“Shoukera” literally translates into “Spirit Mole-Cricket”, for those looking into it from the kanji tied to it.
-“Plague God” actually refers to a Japanese term of “Yakubyougami”; the term actually has a literal term of “jinx”, “plague” or “angel of death”, but considering that “yakubyou” also has a translation of “plague” with the “kami” for “god” as the “gami”, I decided for our purposes at this time to translate it as “Plague God”, though “yakubyougami” can work as well if you wish to go with the Japanese term)
Nube: It’s drawn in Toriyama Sekien’s “Hyakki Yakkou” as a youkai who peeps inside a house from a skylight and attacks a person when it sees a chance. Why it’s called Shoukera is unknown but…it came to be feared since long ago as a youkai who brings calamity to a house.
(TN: I mentioned it back with the “Hyakki Yakkou” Encyclopedia entry, but for those who didn’t read it: Toriyama Sekien is a notable Japanese ukyio-e painter most famous for his books depicting various youkai)
Hiroshi: Nube! It was raised up by Ritsuko-sensei! She seemed to have a cool form!
Shoukera: Gururu…
Nube: She’s sleeping with the effect of the tranquilizer. We’ll take her up softly.
Nube: She didn’t have expressedly scared thoughts.
Ritsuko: Nueno-sensei.

188.
Ritsuko: “If I knew the real Nube, then I’d come to like him”. That is what Kazama-kun said…a man who bets his life and fights youkai for children…if that is your true form, then I…
Ritsuko: Will end up…coming to like you…

189.
Ritsuko: (narrator) The next morning, as I woke up, I was troubled by a terrible headache with some tranquilizer remaining in me on top of the bed.
Nube: You had a nightmare. Right, I’ve asked a doctor.
SFX: Zuki zuki
Ritsuko: A dream…
Ritsuko: Right, a dream. Why would I have that dream…
Sign: Emergency Exit
Hiroshi: That Kazama quickly became well and is leaving the hospital!
Nube: Right--! So, we must quickly eat up the illness sweets.
Nube: Ritsuko-sensei! It’s best you quickly forget that bad dream.
SFX: Gacha
Nube: Because you’re scared even under normal circumstances…

190.
Kazama: Nube
Ritsuko: It wasn’t a dream!!
(End of Vol. 8)

191.
Yukime: Because I won’t be appearing in Vol. 9, I won’t be meeting you until Vol. 10…I’m so lonely…but please buy Vol. 9 as well…
Nube: Yu…Yukime-kun…even if there’s nothing to taking that pose…but it is sexy…but though…you’re a youkai…
SFX: Butsu butsu butsu…
(TN: Yeah...Yukime is doing her hardest to prevent us from forgetting her. But then again, considering she did appear a couple times recently, including that one color chapter in this volume, she does need a bit of a break. Besides, one may fear what the yukionna may go through when she does return...especially if the rules have changed!)

TN: This chapter essentially has one thing in my mind as I did it: game-changer. Considering how long the running gag about Ritsuko and her anti-Nube, hatred of scary stuff has been, seeing this chapter where everything she knew was finally challenged and things finally change in her perspective just shows the importance of what is going on. While originally a one-note character with a good body, her incident with Shoukera and Kazama shows not only that she finally may be able to respect (and even like) Nube, it also shows that she may finally be able to stand up and face a youkai threat on her own, even if her life is nearly threatened by it and all the odds are against her. Obviously if it weren't for the tranquilizers thrown into her body, she probably could have at least stayed awake...but that would have taken away the whole concept of it being a "dream", the mere factor that maybe it wasn't real. And I guess that was the theme of the chapter: having Ritsuko realize that it wasn't a dream through having her drowsily go through it instead of just being up and watching Nube kick Shoukera's butt. Oh and...yeah, as the authors said with the poll, Kazama is rather generic...sure he's on Hiroshi's soccer team but he's just another student in the school and it really could have been anyone. (but hey, it gives a named student to Ritsuko, I guess)