Hell Teacher Nube 102

We all knew the story: new teacher Nueno Meisuke faced down an Oni on his first day at Doumori Elementary, receiving the mysterious Oni no Te. But now, on the darkest day Nube has ever faced, a peculiar ally is about to reveal the truth...

#102: The Secret of the Oni no Te (beginning)

127.
Narrator: He is Nueno Meisuke. His alias is Hell Teacher Nube.
Narrator: Three years earlier, he sealed an “Oni” into his left hand and since has protected students with this power. But…!
Nube: !
SFX: Piki…piki…
Nube: Huh…the seal of the Oni no Te is…!!
SFX: Gacha!

128.
(Title page…this isn’t a good thing…not at all)

129.
SFX: Kiki—
SFX: Gacha…
Tamamo: The Oni no Te is…running wild!?
Caption: Youko – Tamamo: Nube’s rival. He’s a youkai, but he has taken the form of a doctor and is at present at Doumori Hospital.
Tamamo: What’s going on!? I hadn’t understood it well on the telephone but…
Hiroshi: We don’t know—when he had gone into the staff office, he had collapsed.
Kyouko: He’s now in the Night-Watch Room, come with us!
Tamamo: !

130.
Nube: Guu…
SFX: Gogogogogo
Hiroshi: Nube!!
SFX: Da!
Kyouko: Oh no…it’s become worse than before…
Tamamo: Stand aside, don’t go near him…

131.
SFX: Gatsu
Tamamo: Ku
Kyouko: Kyaa!!
Tamamo: Understood: the seal is becoming undone…
SFX: Shuu | Doki doki
Kyouko: Th…thank you, Tamamo…sensei…
Tammao: The Oni no Te is ignoring the will of Nueno-sensei and coming alive as it pleases!!
Hiroshi: Bu…but why is the seal suddenly…!?
Tammao: “The Jushibi of Death”.
Tamamo: I was doing an investigation when I got the call from you…today for Nueno-sensei is the day where his spiritual power lowers the most within his life according to Rikujin Chokusen*.
*An ancient divination used in Onmyoudou.
(TN: A few things have to be explained to fully get what is going on here:
-First of all, “The Jushibi of Death” is in Japanese “Zetsumei Jushibi”; while “Zetsumei” is “End of Life” or “Death”, a “Jushibi”, which literally translates as “received death day”, is a day in certain aspects of divination which is considered the “worst day” for a person. While in this case it is the most extreme example, there are generally a “Jushibi” in every month of the year based on divination style.
-“Rikujin Chokusen”, also known as “Rikujin Shinka” or “Da Liu Ren”, is an ancient style of divination devised in China 2000 years ago involving the usage of an instrument aligning elements of the Tenban (Heaven panel) and Jiban (Earth Panel) between months and zodiac signs and various mathematic calculations to determine the effects on a person of the signs. –Information from “Spirit Servant: Narratives of Shikigami and Onmyoudou Developments” by Pang Carolyn, University of Singapore: pg. viii, 18-19 [the following has to be cited due to an agreement made to use research information in accordance to policy of the University of Singapore’s web site log, thus the citation here])

132.
Tamamo: With this, at any rate, Nueno-sensei will be controlled by the Oni and both his heart and body will transformed into an Oni.
Hiroshi: Huh?
Kyouko: N…no, he’ll be a former Prime Minister Murayama-eyebrow Oni.
(TN: This is going to be a peculiar joke: when the chapter originally came out in 1995, Tomiichi Murayama [whom was mentioned in a prior chapter] was still the Prime Minister of Japan; but he had left office by January 1996; with the volume being released in March, 1996, the line had to be adjusted to “Former” Prime Minister)
Hiroshi: S…save him, Tamamo-sensei!! Confine the Oni in place of Nube.
Kyouko: If a bad guy in “Shonen Jump” loses once, they must become an ally!
(TN: Kyouko’s comment is mostly a generalization based on the actions of many WSJ manga, where bad guys generally become allies the moment they’ve been defeated)
Tamamo: I’m not in the mind of becoming an ally but…I don’t want to lose my long-awaited rival to that form.
Tamamo: But that Oni is too powerful…What exactly can we do to seal it…I don’t even know what to do with that unknown.
SFX: Dokun dokun

133.
Tamamo: Right…it would be best to understand the method that Nueno-sensei sealed the Oni with at the start.
Hiroshi: Eh?
Tamamo: In truth…Nueno-sensei had newly entered this school and was exorcising a student possessed by the Oni…was the Oni no Te sealed at that moment…
Kyouko: Yes…but no one knows anything further. The classroom of that time now has become an unopenable room.
Sign: Keep Out
SFX: Baki

134.
Kyouko: This is severe…was there a fire in here?
Hiroshi: It’s like the aftermath of an air raid.
Tamamo: Fu…what happened in here three years ago?
Hiroshi: What the
Tamamo: Show us…the moment of the Oni no Te’s birth: Hinrou Kyomon Reidai Bunkyoku Rentei Bukyoku Hagun: reproduce this room’s past!

135.
SFX: Zawa zawa zawa
Hiroshi: Wa
SFX: Zubu…
Tamamo: This is a reflection of the past that is reading and reproducing the energy that is ingrained into this room.
Hiroshi & Kyouko: Eh
Tamamo: This day is Nueno-sensei’s inaugural first day.
Kyouko: !!
Hiroshi: A…amazing, this really is the past…
SFX: Shi—n… | Gara

136.
Nube: A~~aah—aah~~~ Kiee~~i; Akuryou Tarzan (Taisan)~~!
(TN: Nube is making a weird parody/pun of the “Akuryou Taisan” expression used by many exorcists, replacing “Taisan” with “Tarzan”, as in the famed character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs)
Kyouko: This is the form of Nube’s inaugural first day…
SFX: Zude
Tamamo: My rival…
Hiroshi: It’s a joke!? Is this now a joke!?
Nube: Eh~~for some reason, I’m all of yours homeroom teacher Nueno Meisuke from today. Did all of you see that form and understand the special skills of your teacher~~!?
SFX: Doku doku
Students: You’re a mere idiot.
Nube: A…actually your teacher is spiritually powered--!!
Student: Eh, you have no powers!?
(TN: This is a weird pun that honestly either I didn’t notice before or wasn’t done until now: “Rei” can be a reading either for “Spirit” or “Zero”, thus the weird pun of “Spiritually Powered” and “No Powered”)
Nube: Wro—ng!
Kyouko: He hasn’t changed even a bit from 3 years ago…

137.
Tamamo: It’s a boring, ordinary scene.
Hiroshi: But…I have some strange feeling. These are students other than us with Nube…
Kyouko: It’s because you’re a transferred schools, Hiroshi, that you didn’t know of Nube from before…
Tamamo: At this point, his left hand is still a human’s…Something happened after this after all…
Voice 1: Ah—Teacher has the picture of a woman in his locket--!
Nube: Ah, hey!
Student 1: Hey!
SFX: Paka
Student 2: Oh—he really does.
Student 3: Who is she!? His lover--!?
Nube: He…hey, return that. That’s your teacher’s teacher…that teacher is my teacher when I was in grade school.
Students: You’re kidding--! This woman--!

138.
Nube: It’s true.
Minako: Nueno-kun, you have a stronger spiritual feeling than a human and easily get possessed by spirits. But some day, I’m certain there will come a time when this power will be useful to people.
Caption: Nube – Age 11
Nube: --Minako-sensei…
Kyouko: What…? We can understand what Nube is thinking…?
Tamamo: Because even thoughts are a feeling of the past.
Nube: A spiritually powered teacher was always protecting me…You were like a mother; the only comprehender of mine who exorcised with hand healing…
Nube: But…teacher became a victim herself so she could exocise an evil spirit attached to me…
Caption: From #78: “Nube Passes Through Time”; Consult Vol. 10

139.
Nube: Teacher…like how you protected me, I will protected these children…for this reason, I became a teacher…
Kyouko: I…I didn’t know.
Hiroshi: This isn’t something he could tell us…
Student: It’s terrible—
Sign: Chickens
“Student”: Ge ge ge
SFX: Picha picha
Nube: !!

140.
Nube: This is a possession by something…
SFX: Tatata…
Principal: Hey, please stop this!
SFX: Ga
Nube: Watch out!
Principal: Hi
SFX: Gachi!
Principal: This child…occasionally becomes like this like a spasm…it’s like seeing that movie “The Exorcist”.
(TN: Yes, the Principal does refer to the 1973 William Friedkin-directed horror movie that is merely just called “Exorcist” in Japanese)
SFX: Garururu… | Gusha gusha
Principal: N? You’re that new teacher…um~~uh, Nueno-kun.
Nube: Principal, please leave this child to me after school.
Principal: Eh? But…
Tamamo: At last.

141.
Note: What Tamamo and the others are seeing is a thorough reflection of the past; they actually aren’t in this place.
Tamamo: We’re finally going to reveal it: the secret of the Oni no Te.
Hiroshi: Will the Oni appear? Or will it be a snake?
Kyouko: It will be the Oni.
Nube: Teacher, please watch me. Like how you saved me, I will save this child..
Nube: Namu Daiji Daihi Kyuugu Kyuunan Koudai Reikan Byakue Kanzeon: Evil spirit possessing in this child, show yourself!
SFX: Zuzun!

142.-143.
(Yep…that’s the Oni…not like he’d be a little guy)

144.
Tamamo: Stupid…he said he sealed that!? It’s much far off than I imagined…no, this Oni was…
Hiroshi: Eh!?
Nube: Hehe…while I had some weary…an unbelievable big shot has appeared…
Nube: I’m sending you back to hell, evil spirit…
SFX: Zubaa
Nube: !!
Kyouko: Nube!!

145.
SFX: Zuzuzu…
Principal: Hi
Tamamo: He can’t win…the spiritual power of this Oni is several hundred times Nueno-sensei…am I seeing the incorrect past!?

TN: Well...that explains a lot. OK...maybe not everything considering this is just the first chapter of two, but from what we've seen we know more is coming up soon. Honestly, though, the first think that I can think of reading this is...well, this probably explains why we didn't get the swimsuit pic that was promised and mentioned in vol. 11. Yeah, Jump took pages away, but considering this is the first of an extremely important story...and the fact that it is rather dark and Jump probably didn't want to give pages to something that was "sort of" notable compared to a massive hit, it sort of feels understandable now.

With that said, this chapter finally reveals a lot of the truth regarding the showdown with the Oni and the fact that...well, something peculiar had to happen for Nube to get THAT for a left hand. Alright, he doesn't have a left hand now but that was mostly due to the Oni blowing it away first thing it could. We knew that the Oni was a massive power with all Nube has done with it so far...but to see it literally tearing Nube apart even in what could be a memory (it may not be, maybe it is an alternate timeline, who knows yet...) is just sad stuff. What sort of makes it more tragic is that Nube finally has achieved what he had dreamed with his connection to Minako-sensei early in vol. 10: he was a teacher with a weird personality and was ready to do anything to protect his students, even getting himself blown away by...that Oni. Likewise, this chapter not only reveals a lot of Nube...but probably also explains why it made sense for Tamamo to return at this point: he was the only rival/character powerful enough and wise enough to understand and help Nube when he could even if he still considered himself a rival and just used Nube to understand the concept of "love". As much as Tamamo hates his rival, he's part of this now and has to do his part if he can even if he has no choice. And as much as he probably can't stand doing so, at least he's the only one who could. Though...who knows if even he is ready for what is coming next.