Hell Teacher Nube 131

For Miki, getting whatever she wants is simply of matter of manipulating the right people with the right emotion. But unfortunately, her emotional controls may be in jeopardy when she discovers a strange mask with a hilariously terrible fate...

#131: The Flesh Mask

185.
SFX: Gacha—n!
Miki: Oh no—
Katsuya: Hey, that’s bad. It’s the staff office.
Kyouko: That’s why I said we should stop playing baseball while we’re cleaning and yet
Miki: It’ll be fine, fine, I have an apology.
Nube: It was all of you?
SFX: Gara
Sign: Staff Office

186.
Nube: Really, you’ve been sabotaging your cleaning day after day. That’s why I said today: today you’re unforgiven!
Miki: Uuh…uh…
Nube: ?
Miki: I…I’m sorry, teacher!!
SFX: Boro…boro boro

187.
SFX: Taji…
Nube: Uh.
Nube: Fa…fake crying is no good, because you’re always deceiving me with that hand…
Principal: What is it, what is it?
Principal: Nueno-kun, shouldn’t you reconsider with crying like this? (she should be forgiven)
Nube: It’s a lie; I’m not reconsidering!
Miki: I…I’m sorry…hikku, I…I, gusu, won’t, ekku…won’t do this ever again.
SFX: Yoyoyo… | Chira
Principal: Understood, we’ll overlook it this time. Well, stop crying already.
Nube: It’s a lie, its fake tears! We can’t be deceived by this!

188.
Principal: Nueno-kun! Shouldn’t you believe in your own students on this!?
Nube: Huh! Her fake crying is the best under heaven.
Principal: You’re the worst teacher.
Nube: What’s that, kamaboko-whiskers!?
(TN: Kamaboko is a type of processed fish sausage that is usually packed like a loaf that’s round with a flat bottom, usually used as a garnish in ramen)
SFX: Kirari!
Principal: You! Pay cut!
Nube: Kue!? Th…that’s…
Katsuya: Magnificent!
SFX: Pachi pachi pachi
Kyouko: Why are you skilled at fake crying like that?
Miki: I’ve practiced. Now I can send out tears like turning on a switch anytime, anywhere.
Miki: For example, like this, uh uh uh…
Sign: Yatsukuri Funeral
Old Woman: Thank you for crying. This is for our Kousuke.
Miki: Yes, I’m indebted to him well in his lifetime.
Old Woman: Right, well I’ll give you these funeral manjuu.
(TN: As I mentioned in a prior chapter, manjuu are typically given out during funerals even with their notability as a general sweet)
Miki: Thank you.

189.
Miki: Like that. (Yum yum)
Kyouko: You’re going to get cursed.
Sign:
Salesman: Unclaimed Goods: Special Bargain Sale
(TN: “Unclaimed Goods” is based on the Japanese word “Shichinagareshina”, which is an item that was pawned that was never claimed)
Hiroshi: Heh, he has a variety of thngs.
Katsuya: Interesting—
Miki: Ah.
Caption: Seems like an item that tempts her.
Price Tag: 300 Yen

190.
Miki: I bought it…this ridiculousness is stylish. I’ll decorate it on my wall—or
Miki: Have~~this as a mask—like this.
(TN: There are a couple expressions I could use here considering I really didn’t get what Miki was trying to say here. On one hand, it seems like she is saying literally “okame”, which is “an appearance seen by an outsider”; on the other hand she could just be her giving a slang version of “kamen” which is “mask”. For the moment I used the latter since Miki is wearing it like a mask there.)
SFX: Kapo
SFX: Zoku…
“Spirit”: Hi—hihihi: you won’t cry anymore. I’m stealing tears from you!
SFX: Goooooh

191.
Miki: Nooo!!
SFX: Karan!
Miki: Wh…what was that now… (haa…haa…haa…) Somehow…I’ve lost the senses on my face…
Miki: Aha…ahaha…no way…though I don’t really want to laugh (Hiku hiku) why…ahaha…am I filed with laughter…
Miki: Ahahaha hold on…Ahahahahahahaha, no…

192.
Voice: What? You’ve come to not stop laughing!?
Nube: Hmph, this is because you just had crocodile tears. You’re paying for that.
Miki: (Ahaha hihihi…) Ahahah, this truly is strange. Look at my face, ahahah.
Nube: Nothing—I can do: for doing this, help me do copying later…
SFX: Gashi
Nube: ! (to himself) A strong grudge…
Nube: This is an item of the Heian era…Urarahime, a daughter of Fujiwara, gotmarried so she could gain eminence as a noble of a certain region at that time…what you call a political marriage. Urarahime didn’t have a reason to fall in love and get married as a daughter who was gloomy with bad looks. Her husband placed on her a laughing mask having hated seeing her face and made it unforgivable to remove it.

193.
Nube: Urarahime wept all night under that mask every night. But her appearance wearing the mask only had her seem like she was laughing, however she was crying…eventually the princess died of an illness as she was wearing the laughing mask…
(TN: One peculiar verb I have to bring up here is “nakiakasu”, which literally is “to weep all night”, which was used in conjunction with “maiyo” or “every night” to make it seem like she was weeping all night every night under that laughing mask)
Nube: From this grudge, this became a Flesh Mask which releases only laughter by a curse to the one who wears it.
(TN: The name of the object, as well as of the chapter, was in Japanese “Nikudzuki no Men”, which literally translates into “The Flesh-Attaching Mask”. However, many times “nikudzuki no men” is usually only translated as “flesh mask” even though “dzuki” means that it attaches to the flesh and thus becomes “a mask that attaches to the flesh” and thus becomes the flesh as we see here. For the most part I’m just keeping it as “Flesh Mask” as opposed to the Japanese term due to keeping a bit of conformity to similar curses)
Miki: Ahahaha
Nube: However, this is a quite strong grudge…I don’t know how many days it will take but…I can only soften the grudge slowly with a sutra.
Miki: Ahaha.
Miki: Ahahaha, then I must laugh all this time? Ahahhaha…that’s…

194.
Miki: For that reason, ahaha, hihihihi. (Ahaha, Eehihi)
Kyouko: A cursed mask?
Katsuya: Who would pawn that thing?
Noriko: Everyone, come here--!
Noriko: Moro-chan, a guinea pig of the breeding pen, has died.
(TN: “Moro-chan” is a weird reference to the Japanese name of guinea pig, “morumotto”)
Kyouko: Eh—it was so cute to everyone on that and yet
Makoto: Uwa—h
Miki: Ahahahaha Kyahahahaha Ee~~hihihi
Miki: Ahahahaha Hihihihihi Gyaha Gyaha
Noriko: That’s cruel…you’re that pleased that Moro-chan died?
Kyouko: Th…that’s wrong, Miki is cursed.

195.
Girl: I’m going to transfer next month.
Kyouko: Eh, really Okazaki-san?
Noriko: A~~w, too bad—
Hiroshi: It will get lonely.
Miki: Ahahahaha Kyahaha
Okazaki: That’s cruel.
Nube: You three, have you been properly listening to class!?
Page: 0 Points
Miki: Gyahaha Eehehe, Ke~~kekeke
Hiroshi: …Somehow…though I know she’s cursed…my stomach is irritated.
Shizuka: It hurts—
Miki: Guwa~~ha ha ha!!

196.
Hiroshi: Shape—up!!
Kyouko: Hey you, aren’t you seriously laughing!?
Makoto: It’s likely if it’s Miki.
SFX: Dododododo
Miki: Ahahah Aha Aha
Caption: A week later—
Nube: Namu Daiji Daihi Kyuugu Kyuunan…
Miki: Ahaha ahaha
Nube: Sorry…it’s going to take much much more.
Miki: Ahaha…a—hahaha.

197.
Miki: Ahaha…
Kyouko: Ah, Miki.
Kyouko: I’m playing dodgeball with everyone but…want to join?
Shizuka: Huh—if Miki-chan joins, I’m out.
Girl 1: Me too.
Girl 2: I don’t want to either—
Girl 3: Me neither.
Miki: Ahaha…
SFX: Pua-- | Gatatan gatatan…
Miki: ………
Miki: …I can’t cry…it’s painful…Aha Ahahaha

198.
Miki: It a very important thing to cry…(Ahaha…) I’ve…just been fake crying up to now…It’s painful…
Miki: Aha…ahahaha Ahaha…
SFX: Poi
SFX: Pachi…pachi…

199.
Man 1: There’s a fire on the riverbank of the Doumori River.
Man 2: It’s terrible: there’s a girl laughing in the midst of the fire!
Hiroshi: Miki!?
Voices: Wh…what is she doing?
Miki: Ahahaha ahaha. I’m fine already; if I can’t have the curse of the mask removed and have to spend my life like this…if I’m hated by everyone then I won’t…ahahah…
Hiroshi: You dummy, what are you saying!
Kyouko & Noriko: That’s right, Miki!
Makoto: Aren’t we friends!

200.
Hiroshi: Can we have you die!
Kyouko & Noriko: I’m going too.
Shizuka: Me too!
SFX: Da
Miki: Everyone…ahahaha…no…it’s too far and you’ll burn.
Hiroshi: Shut up! Can you be left alone by your classmates!
SFX: Basa
Katsuya: If you die, then who is going to be our troublemaker?
Kyouko: Do you want our serialization to end!?
SFX: Basa

201.
Miki: Everyone…
Nube: Are you alright—
Miki: Everyone, aha…ahaha…thank you, ahaha.
Kyouko: Stupid, is this the case to laugh?

202.
Nube: !
SFX: Shuu…shuu…
“Voice”: Warm tears…they aren’t tears of sadness…they heal…the heart…
SFX: Hikku…hikku…
Nube: The grudge…is disappearing…
SFX: Shuuu…
SFX: Hikku…hikku…

203.
Nube: It seems the grudge of Urarahime has been purified by tears. Not the tears of sadness, but the warm tears that flood with human emotions…
Nube: Well, cry with all your strength. Understand well the importance of crying. Don’t go give those fake tears anymore.
Miki: Bieeee
Miki: Uh uh, when I cry, I get hungry. Treat me to ramen. (Uh uh)
SFX: Hikku…ekku…
Nube: No…nothing I can do.
Miki: For everyone else too, sob sob.
Nube: N…nothing I can do.
(End of Vol. 15)

204.
NUBE’S WEIRD FILES

#18: The Flesh Mask

The cursed mask has an image that is first thought of by everyone by the Noh Mask that is represented by the Hannya. This Noh that was boosted to the limits of art by the father and son Kanami and Seami in the Muromachi Period is, if you speak of it, is a strange drama where ghosts and youkai are the main characters. There, it tells the truth of just the mask that presents life. It speaks of a culture that was born in a sense of the vanity of life in an era that spent all of its time on wars and plots.

Well then, the “Flesh Mask” is known as a kind of Tsukumogami. When it is worn, it ends up clinging to a person’s face and can’t be taken off. In legend, a certain bride couldn’t come to take off a demon mask of a temple that seemed to startle her mother in law, was possessed by the demon that dwelled in the mask and became a demoness. The mask introduced in this chapter differed in its nature more or less due to not coming to be one that couldn’t be taken off. Other than that, there are “Menreiki”, which are spirits that dwell in masks. The pride that’s like a surpassing dancing hand that dwells in an old mask that is used in Sarugaku is said to be high.

(TN: A few things:
1. A “Hannya”, which is probably one of the most well known masks of Noh, is a mask that represents a jealous female demon representing jealousy.
2. Kanami (Kan’ami Kiyotsugu) is a Muromachi actor and author notable as one of the first to encorperate concepts of Kusemai song and dance styles and Dengaku harvest dances within plays, leading to the birth of modern Noh plays. Seami (Zeami Motokiyo/Kanze Motokiyo), his son, helped in establishing Noh and gained an education in the court of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, where he would gain the education that would help him create 50 plays as well as instruction books for the making of Noh plays.
3. “Menreiki” literally translates into “Mask-Spirit Demon” and essentially is what it sounds like: a spirit/demon that inhabits within a mask.
4. Sarugaku, literally “Monkey Music”, is a predecessor of Noh that utilizes comic dialogue and native dances for the performance of plays. It was this base that Kanami and Seami used to create Noh in the 14th century.)

205.
Caption: Notice of the Next Volume
Kaneda: Volume 16 is where I’m going to be active for just a bit! Anticipate it!
Minions: We haven’t been appearing…
(TN: Yeah, Kaneda will get a noticeable appearance in vol. 16…I can’t really say how…or why…but he does get a tale next volume. The big guy really never gets respect being a punk…but he’s a punk so that’s par for the course. And the henchmen…well they never gets name so…yeah)

TN: It's really tough to say whether you should think if Miki got what she deserved or not with what happened in this chapter. In a way, it sort of showed that Miki realized she was in too deep from the moment she found out she couldn't cry anymore due to the power of the Flesh Mask, therefore negating most of the rest of the chapter. But on the other, I guess they sort of wanted to drive the point across: manipulating people with feelings, even sympathetic ones, is something that really shouldn't be done. And unfortunately...driving the point across did feel a tad sad and pathetic in how it was done. In the midst of all this, though, I did like that even with Miki's problem, Kyouko sort of kept her head together and sympathized with Miki and her plight even if she was nearly laughing herself to an early grave. Even when she saw all the laughing and the terrible emotional manipulation Miki was under duress with, she still was sane enough to know that this wasn't Miki and that she was suffering even with her freaky grinning face. Then again...it's really tough to say if Miki even did learn anything from the ordeal: sure she did seem like it since she did break the spell of the Flesh Mask, but the ending makes it seem like sometimes her "sincere tears" are still used to manipulate in bratty, controlling fashions. But of course, if these weird things didn't happen to Miki, we wouldn't have a manga.

BTW: there is something really strange I sort of want to point out in regards to how we're about to get a dynamic slowly introduced between two characters in particular...but it sort of establishes itself over the next three chapters (and sort of affects the rest of the series) I won't tell you who and how until the last of them is released, but let's say...the relationship between two characters in particular won't really be the same as we see how these three chapters play out.