Hell Teacher Nube 112

While making money is something that can be done spiritually, there is always a means of danger just to even attempt it! But when Nube gets into an unexpected crisis, he may need to face these dangers...or face being broke!

#112: Youkai: Kanedama

161.
Makoto: From where do you come from, Kakukaku. Do you come from France, Kakukaku. They’re dangerous guys, Kakukaku. Kiken Sentai Kakukakuranger—
SFX: Chari—n…
SFX: Chari—n…chari—n…
SFX: Chari—n… | Hita…hita… | Chari—n… | Hita…

162.
“Youkai”: How much do you want?
SFX: Chari—n Chari—n

163.
Makoto: A…au…au…au…you can’t give to a person who doesn’t know what ikura is?
“Youkai”: How much do you want?
Makoto: Right~~ikura is salmon roe.
(TN: This is a weird pun: the youkai says “Ikura Hoshii”; this would typically stand for “How much do you want?”; but Makoto thinks that the “ikura hoshii” here is actually “Do you want Ikura?”, where he figures out “ikura” is “salmon roe”. Thus instead of thinking that the youkai is asking him how much money he wants, he thinks its “do you want salmon roe”)
Makoto: U…um…well…a thousand yen…
“Youkai”: From here, there will be a being passing through here. Defeat it.
Makoto: Wh…what is…that eerie priest… (Did he resemble Luckyman?)
(TN: “Luckyman” is the lead character of the WSJ series “Tottemo! Luckyman”, created by Hiroshi Gamou and running in Jump from 1993-1997)
SFX: Garururu… (Grrrr…)
SFX: Piku! | Nosshi Nosshi | Garururu…

164.
SFX: Nosshi Nosshi
Makoto: That’s a huge dog.
SFX: Gan!
Makoto: I was scared of that huge dog and didn’t defeat it.
SFX: Uu—
Makoto: Ah, now it’s a relatively normal dog.
SFX: Uu~~
Makoto: But I’m scared again and can’t defeat it.
SFX: Uu~~geho geho (cough cough)
Makoto: Wh…what’s that: now it’s an extremely old, weak dog. Alright, if it’s that.
SFX: Yobo-- | Gehogeho
Makoto: Taa—I’m sorry!
Dog: Kyai~~n

165.
SFX: Paaaa…
SFX: Charin chari—n
Miki: Ama—ing, that’s Kanedama, I’m certain.
(TN: “Kanedama” is “Money spirit”…but…)
Makoto: Kanedama?
Hiroshi: Eh?

166.
Hiroshi: What’s that, Kinta…
Caption: Kintama
Kyouko’s Mallet: Vulgar Gag Banishment
(TN: And there’s the joke we’ve worked ourselves to. While the youkai is called “Kanedama”, Hiroshi ended up pronouncing “Kane” as “Kin”, leading to him thinking it as “Kintama” or “Testicles”…even with a different kanji for “tama” with the same reading; the actual “Tama” being “spirit” and the “tama” in Hiroshi’s mind (and the above kanji” being “ball”)
Makoto: What is Kanedama?
Nube: You’ve seen a nice thing, Makoto. Kanedama stands for “Money Spirit”.
(TN: I couldn’t use the original Japanese because Nube explains the “writing” of Kanedama, explaining the two kanji I mentioned and explained above regarding “Money” and “Spirit”)
Nube: In short, it’s a money spirit. If you use it skillfully, you can obtain a large amount. It staggers throughout the country. It does seem to test people through this.
Nube: When you first encounter it, it asks “How much do you want?”; when you answer, it says “Defeat the person that passed through now”. The first is an unreasonably strong man, the second is normal and the third is a weak man. And thus, it seems to show this person’s physical strength through the quality of which person is defeated. If you defeat the strongest first person, you’ll receive the entirety of just amount you spoke of.

167.
Makoto: Right: since I defeated a weak dog, I only received 200 yen; I did tell it a thousand yen though.
Hiroshi: Hahaha, that’s like Makoto.
Miki: Why didn’t you tell it a million yen, dummy!
Nube: He isn’t priding over defeating a weak dog. Even so, if he requested a large sum, then a bear may have appeared in the place of the dog.
Miki: I’d fight even a bear if it’s for a million.
Miki: Hey~~let’s go meet with Kanedama. It’ll be great if we equally split it with the two of us.
Nube: No way!
Nube: Money spirits possess ill will; it’s dangerous when they get near you.
Hiroshi: Then how about we get a box of cakes?
Hiroshi: If you attack it with the Oni no Te…
SFX: Gin!
Kyouko: Kya!

168.
SFX: Gachan!
Sign: Ra-a-me-n
Salesman: Wa
SFX: Zuru
Girl: Kya—father!
SFX: Gara gara gara gara
Ramen Cart Man: Uwa—uwa—
SFX: Dogashan | Baki Gusha
Hiroshi: Hiee, I did that~~
Nube: ……
Miki: Amazing—completely demolished---!!

169.
Ramen Cart Man: Why did this happen; the cart is broken and we can’t do business!
Girl: Right, we have to be recompensated immediately!
Nube: I’m sorry…please immediately with my low salary…I’ll give you a five-year loan…
SFX: Peko peko peko | Hirani—hirani—
Miki: …
Girl: We can’t wait for that! We’ll fully eat it all up from tonight!
Miki: You’ll be fine, because this teacher is going to be a really rich man in the midst of tonight.
Nube: He…hey, Miki, you’ve said too much…
Girl: Really?
Miki: Really; he’ll search for treasure with spiritual power.
Hiroshi: But you can only do that.
Kyouko: Please, Nube!!
Nube: This is just as Miki expected…

170.
Nube: Really, how could this have come to this?
Nube: It truly is still in this neighborhood…there is youki remaining.
Kyouko: Even cars don’t pass on this old road in the neighborhood.
Hiroshi: Indeed this is a place that’s choice for youkai.
SFX: Chari—n…chari—n…chari—n… | Hita…hita…hita…
Nube: Is that it?

171.
Kanedama: How much do you want?
Miki: Leave this to me; a million yen.
Miki: That’s OK.
Kanedama: Defeat the person that comes from now.
Nube: Hey you s**t, it’s come to this so I’ve decided to be prepared. Even if it’s a dog or a bear, come at me!
SFX: Hita…hita…
Nube: It’s come.

172.
“Large Man”: Why are you glaring at me? (Thank you!)
(TN: The “thank you” here is the formal version “gottsuan”, usually used by sumo wrestlers)
SFX: Sushin! Sushin! Sushin!
Kimono: Buttakoyama Stable
(TN: “Buttakoyama” = “Pig-Child Mountain”; while a stable is “heya”, which is a sumo-stable)
Nube: Eh?
“Large Man”: Today I lost in pachinko and I’m in a bad mood. Do you have a complaint? (Thank you!)
Nube: Um, no, well, that’s an imposing stomach… (to himself) There’s a sumo stable nearby…?
“Large Man”: Harite--!
(TN: “Harite” is an open-handed sumo slap)
SFX: Dododododododo

173.
Miki: A—ah, there it goes. With that it’s impossible for the million.
SFX: Zushin! Zushin!
Nube: Can I win—against that!!
Kyouko: The next is coming.
Nube: Al…alright; I’ll switch to a bit of strategy.
Fighters: Must strike! Must strike!
(TN: “Must strike” is the expression “utsubeshi”, which is an expression tied to the boxing manga “Ashita no Joe” by Asao Takamori and Tetsuya Chiba; heck you could see the middle guy as the equivalent of an evil, demonic Joe)
SFX: Ta ta ta ta | Shu shu shu shu
Nube: Ahahaha; can’t I hit you so I can receive a hundred thousand?
“Punk”: What’s that?
“Punk”: Must strike! Must strike! Must strike!

174.
Miki: You lost again! Enough! It’s the weakest one.
SFX: Hita…hita…
Nube: Eh?
SFX: Za
Nube: Eh!? Ri…Ritsuko-sensei…I can’t defeat her, why exactly…
“Ritsuko”: What’s wrong, teacher?
Miki: Nube! Defeat her! Give one shot head on!
Ritsuko: A road where youkai appear; this seems amusing.
Nube: …Super-scared Ritsuko-sensei is…?
Nube: ……Right; I’m thinking too much.

175.
Nube: Namu Daiji Daihi Kyuugu Kyuunan Koudai Reikan…
SFX: Zashu
“Frog?”: Gyaaaa

176.
Nube: They were vulgar spirits that Kanedama is manipulating. I was thinking just that they were real, but actually Kanedama changed them to people in a similar way as Tanuki and Mujina.
(TN: While we have previously gone into “tanuki”, the “mujina” is a shapeshifting creature usually referring to a badger, but sometimes is the same raccoon-dog that “tanuki” refers to.
SFX: Shuuu
Kyouko: Yes! You finally defeated it!
Miki: Will we get money!?
SFX: Gogogogogo
SFX: Zaza—
Miki: Yahoo---!!

177.
Nube: …In spite of defeating the weakest one, the money is an awful lot.
Miki: Well that seems—so. I told it ten million yen. I’m fine with 80%.
Nube: Please give all of it to those people.
Miki: Chie—
Cart Man: We’ll buy a new cart.
Girl: I’m glad.
SFX: Gara gara gara
Miki: Chie chie
Nube: It’s already late. Well, everyone go home, go home.

178.
Nube: N? That Kanedama is still here…
Nube: Hold on…the deceptions that appear through him can all be torn up with the Oni no Te. So then, whatever large sum I request, I can win it…
Kanedama: How much do you want?
Nube: 50 Million Yen.
Kanedama: Now defeat the being that passes through here.
Nube: Fu, well come. Whatever monster it is, the Oni no Te will…
SFX: Guoo

179.
SFX: Pua—
Nube: Eh—
Truck: Otoko Ippiki Ichibanhoshi (Shining Example of a Man - The Number One Star)
Nube: Fu, no: this too is a deception. A truck doesn’t have reason to come in to this narrow old road here…
SFX: Su… | Zudo—n
Sign: Shortcut to the National Highway
Caption: Deceptive Sign
Narrator: Nube had serious wounds for a month.

TN: Now that's more like it! After a whole gathering of chapters that have been nothing but trauma and turmoil and non-stop angsting and crisis, we finally have a chapter that is nothing but a mindlessly fun blast...where Nube gets hurt a lot. The last chapter that sort of came close to this was Izuna's summoning ability chapter...but somehow it felt more like one of the more breezy Yukime chapters or some of the ones with Hayame so far. I love the educational values of the series and do like that many parts of the story integrate comedy into drama, but sometimes we just need something to ease the trauma we've been through, especially since everything since at least Nube's origin (well more like since the start of the last volume with Tamamo's return) has been dark or foreboding in one form or another. Though I do have a couple slight nitpicks with the chapter:

-First, why is it Nube that had to take responsibility for the destroyed ramen cart? It was Hiroshi kicking a soccer ball to Kyouko's head that lead to it being destroyed; they should have made Hiroshi deal with it but have Nube face Kanedama in his place to get the money to rebuild it.
-Second: when did Miki get the time to even switch the amount of the request to Kanedama? I did like the little twist allowing for Nube to give the money up easily to the cart owner, but Miki specifically said "a million" before she later said "I made it 10 million" (thus allowing for the high amount when Nube defeated the weakest of the three)

But those aside, I think this is what the series needed to prevent it from being angsty all the time. Sure angst is nice but you can't have it forever or else people will go insane...like Nube facing an oncoming truck.