Hell Teacher Nube 137

The future: it may not be written in stone, but sometimes it can just creep up on you when you least expect it! For Kyouko, the future may have finally arrived...but it could be more unexpected than what she imagines it to be!!

#137: The Dimension Youkai: Makuragaeshi

119.
Narrator: When you wake up, you have confusion with your memory.
Narrator: Your place, time and even the date of which you were sleeping; it feels like you were suddenly thrown out of another room while you were sleeping…it was a clashing time.
Boy: Huh, this is…what day is today?
Narrator: At that time, you…were truly…attacked by “it”…
SFX: Sususu…
SFX: Hita…hita…

120.
SFX: Gurun

121.
SFX: Chichichi…
Voice: Kyouko!!
Kyouko: U—h
Voice: Please wake up, you’re late! Kyouko!
Kyouko: Uh~~I’m somewhat sleepy…why~~isn’t it still 6?
SFX: Mozo…
Kyouko: Hold on, mom, why do I have to get up so early?
SFX: Petashi petashi
Mrs. Inaba: Early? It’s already 6.
Kyouko: Well, it’s enough to wake up at 8 for school…
Mrs. Inaba: School? What, are you half asleep?

122.
Mrs. Inaba: You’re 26 this year, what school are you going to!?
Kyouko: Eh!?
Kyouko: 26?
Kyouko: You’re kidding; my chest hasn’t gotten bigger.
Mrs. Inaba: I’m sorry, that was inherited.
(TN: That explains a lot…then again it’s not like Mrs. Inaba can be anything like Mrs. Hosokawa…)

123.
Kyouko: It can’t be
SFX: Ba!
Kyouko: …...Well what is this…I’m 11; I’m Inaba Kyouko of 5-3 of Doumori Elementary, the Nube class……am I…
Kyouko: Uh…
SFX: Kura…
Mrs. Inaba: What’s wrong; why exactly are you wearing your hair in pigtails like a grade schooler? Are you alright?
(TN: Mrs. Inaba doesn’t quite say “pigtails”; she makes reference to a term of “osage”, which is a Japanese word for “wearing your hair in braids”; since Kyouko is better known for pigtails than braids, I slightly adjusted it)
Kyouko: I’m…half asleep…if I am…then am I confused…about my memories of graduating…grade school?
Kyouko: And middle school…and high school….ah…I’m even out of college…yes…now is my 4th year as an office lady…I’m…
(TN: I’m sort of going to need to go a bit into the office lady phenomenon here in regards to Kyouko’s current life status. While many Japanese women do go through school including graduating college, most of them end up in the “office lady” position after graduation doing “pink collar” jobs like secretarial work or serving tea. There is a general concept that these young ladies would be married before their 30, with a general push between 24 to 28 of a girl to find a man and get out or just quit their job before they reach that age. At one point in the 1980s, 1/3 of the Japanese female workforce were office ladies. While there has been many, many pushes to allow for female workers to have more equal and stronger status in the workplace, this discriminatory work continues with a push in Japanese culture to see Japanese women as working only in their 20s with their later life spent on motherhood. Incidentally, Kyouko, being a 26-year old office lady, has entered the “crucial period” where the later problems begin to emerge of finding someone and getting out…)

124.
Kyouko: Ah~~
Kyouko: Why haven’t you awakened me much earlier; I’m late for work!! (Ah~~!!)
Mrs. Inaba: Well that’s good; it’s the typical Kyouko. Hey, don’t eat your lipstick.
Kyouko: What a terrible memory confusion. My heart has returned to being a grade schooler…
SFX: Gyuu gyuu
SFX: Gami gami gami gami

125.
SFX: Kata kata dosa
SFX: Dosa dosa dosa
Kyouko: Fuu…my eyes hurt…I’ve entered into an intense company…
SFX: Gii
Kyouko: Those days…were great…
Everyone: Nuuubee—

126.
Kyouko: Nube…everyone…
Kyouko: Aha…it’s extremely vivid. Is this a reason for my memory confusion this morning?
Kyouko: Somehow I’ve…it’s like I was a grade schooler until yesterday…Suddenly…it’s like I’m 26 and become an office lady…
Kyouko: ……This
Kyouko: Is wrong, it’s wrong!
SFX: Da--!!
Kyouko: This isn’t me after all.
Worker: Inaba-kun!

127.
Kyouko: Ah, Miki. It’s been a while, it’s me. Y…yes; are you fine with me going there today? I want to chat.
Miki: Hee, in other words, you have a hunch that your self today isn’t your true self.
Caption: Miki: illustrated as a mother of triplets.
Babies: Babu babu babu
Kyouko: Um…yes…ah, no, you can’t suck on me.
SFX: Babu babu
Miki: Don’t do that, auntie doesn’t have boobs—
(TN: A couple things:
-Miki refers to Kyouko here as “obasan”, which can be referred to as “auntie” but also as in “middle-aged lady”, including one who hasn’t gotten married…like Kyouko.
-For once we have “oppai” used twice, but here it feels like two separate contexts. When Kyouko mentions “oppai” to the baby, it is the reference to “to suck on nipples”, such as what the baby wants to do when it feeds. On the other hand, Miki’s version probably is somewhat similar, but from Kyouko’s offended reaction, it sounds like she’s literally saying “she doesn’t have boobs” with “oppai” being used as the slang for “breasts”, as we sort of know Kyouko infamously doesn’t have.)
Kyouko: Shut up.

128.
Miki: Currently Katsuya is a fighter pilot in the aerial SDF. That’s surprising.
(TN: “Aerial SDF”, which in Japanese is “Kuuji”, is the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, defending Japanese airspace and performing other aerospace operations as well as the group behind the notable “Blue Impulse” acrobatic team)
Kyouko: Hee—
Miki: Makoto grew to 8 heads and is a sexy, shrewd lawyer.
(TN: This was a tough bit to translate but generally think of it in the perspective of an artist: the typical human body should be about 7/7.5 heads in size, whereas an idealized body is 8 heads in height. The term used for this physical proportion is “toushin”, which literally through the kanji translates into “head-bodies”)
Sign: Regional Courthouse
Kyouko: Ge
Miki: Noro-chan showed her real nature as being a man-killer in middle and high schools and became a loose AV actress… (lying)
(TN: Miki doesn’t literally call Noro-chan a man-killer but uses the term “otokozuki”, which is an “amorous woman” or a “female who is highly attractive to males”…though I still think that somehow/somewhere, Miki is still hateful for the whole Pawci incident and just tried to paint her in a negative light)
Kyouko: Eeh
Miki: Hey…have you really become a grade schooler within your head?
Kyouko: Ye…yes…in truth, I have memories up to the present, but it’s like I don’t have a sense of reality, with a feeling like I’ve been taking it and arriving at it. That’s why I was taken aback in surprise even with your stories about everyone now. But only my memories back in grade school are clear…I feel like they’re real…
Miki: You have your work and are reminiscing about your enjoyable past…aren’t you escaping reality~~? (Fu)
Kyouko: Th…that isn’t it, believe me!
Miki: Well…I am in half-doubt about this but…will you understand with this?
(TN: Miki’s “half in doubt” is actually in Japanese “hanshin hangi”, which literally is “half believe you, half in doubt”, but is usually just translated with the “half in doubt” part)
Kyouko: Eh?

129.
SFX: Ui—n…
(TN: Well…no one realized in 1996 the impact of stuff like DVD players and internet downloaded video so…just bare with the VHS technology)
Voices: Congratulations! Congratulations!
Katsuya: Hiroshi--! Do your best with her!
Kyouko: Miki—be happy--!!
SFX: Buchu—hyu—hyu—pachi pachi
Miki: Kyouko…you…when you were in high school, you got in a major fight with Hiroshi and broke up…Hiroshi hit a goal with me who had gone to his same university.
(TN: The “hit a goal” is a Japanese term of “Goal in”, which is “reaching a goal” or “making a goal”…then again you would have expected Miki to give up on him after vol. 9)

130.
Miki: Currently, Hiroshi is the figurehead player of J-League’s Verdi and my devoted husband. If your heart is as it was in grade school, then how are you going to take this?
(TN: “Verdi” to a soccer team that formerly was known as “Verdi Kawasaki” and is currently one of two Tokyo-based soccer teams where it is known as “Tokyo Verdi”. For a major period between 1983 and 1994 (part of which it was owned by the Yomiuri Group, who also owned the Yomiuri Giants of baseball), Verdi as considered one of the premiere soccer teams of Japan; but has since fallen on hard times and is currently a 2nd-tier team with a potential of not even playing in the 2011 season as of this current translation.)
Kyouko: Hiroshi…that’s…
Miki: ………
Miki: ……Understood. You should go to the place of “that man”.
SFX: Puki
Miki: Hurry and do what you need to, you’re not a person of this world. If it’s that person, I’m certain you’ll be saved.

131.
Kyouko: If it’s that man…
SFX: Batan
Sign: Doumori Hospital
SFX: Ka ka
SFX: Gacha…
Ritsuko: Ara…well…

132.
Nube: Su--…ha--…
Ritsuko: It has been fast, this passage of time…
(TN: The expression of “this passage of time” is actually “Tsukihi no tatsu”, which is “the passage of days and months”…but considering this is actually 15 years...I made it merely “the passage of time”)
Ritsuko: Two years after all of you graduated…Nueno-sensei fought a strong evil spirit there hadn’t been up to then; the exorcism failed…he did rescue the student, yet he himself became almost paralyzed through his entire body…
Ritsuko: Yukime-san ultimately didn’t come back from the mountain…I’ve been taking care of him but…I am slightly happy like this…
Kyouko: Th…this is wrong.

133.
Kyouko: It’s wrong!! This isn’t reality!
Ritsuko: I understand you don’t want to acknowledge this but then…this is reality. It’s painful but it is…
Kyouko: Stop it, stop it!!
Kyouko: I am not a person of this world…I have to go back!! I have to go back!! To those fun days in Nube’s class!

134.
SFX: Gata gata
Kyouko: Nube!!
Nube: Kyouko…come…here…youki… (Su--…ha--…su--…ha--…) You…a bad youkai……quickly…With…the Oni no Te…
Nube: Namu Daiji…Kyuu…nan…
SFX: Ga
Youkai: Gya—

135.
Nube: This is…Makura…gaeshi…when your pillow…is turned over by him…the soul…that’s like you of…now will spring to…a different world.
(TN: “Makuragaeshi” literally translates into “pillow-turner”)
Nube: And…it enjoys watching humans…who are bothered…for a little while…it was amused…with the state of you…who has had their pillow turned…and watched you on your back…that’s why I could catch it.
Nube: This…here is…not…your…world…here is…
Nube: A para…llel…world……one among…many…futures…This sort of…future…does exist…
Nube: Well…please go back…my dear student…and…build a…happy…future…

136.
Nube: Makuragaeshi, return…Kyouko to normal…or else…
Makuragaeshi: Gyaaaa
SFX: Chi chi chi…chun…chun…
Kyouko: Nube
SFX: Gaba
Kyouko: Haa…haa…

137.
Hiroshi: I found it.
Nube: No, it’s mine.
Katsuya: It’s mine—
Kyouko: Was it merely a dream or was it…

138.
NUBE’S WEIRD FILES

#24: Makuragaeshi

Since long ago, it’s been said that pillows confine the spirit of their owner. Turning over a pillow namely has a meaning of turning around from life to death. From there in ancient times what is Makuragaeshi is a terrible youkai that invites people to death. However, it went along down through the eras and its youryoku dimmed, degrading it to simply just turning over a pillow and coercing humans.

However, it seems like there isn’t a variety of youkai that turns over pillows. There seems to be a trickster being that conducts turning over pillows even among Zashiki Warashi; it is called “Makura Kozou”. Also old tree spirits turn pillows over.

(TN: “Makura Kozou”, which translates into “Small Pillow Monk”, is as is stated a variety of Zashiki Warashi who are found in certain areas and are tricksters who turn pillows over just like Makuragaeshi)

TN: Let me just start with this: obviously the future isn't set for anyone, particularly in a manga like this...but considering what happens next chapter, this future is probably going to be already averted (if it's based on all the chapters prior to this one)

Somehow, for an "alternate future" tale, this one really did feel sightly bizarre and off...but somehow it was supposed to be like this. My guess is that Makuragaeshi wanted to find the way to make Kyouko react the worst when in her dream and made every nightmare she has about the future work out in a way that was still somewhat working and not just some "ultimate horrible worst-case scenario". These include Nube reduced to a paralyzed lump with an Oni no Te, Miki marrying Hiroshi and herself reduced to a rapidly aging office lady with no aspects or hopes for a positive, successful future. The truth is that it knew Kyouko didn't want any of these things to occur and just made them happen within her dream (even though she only realized it through her mind being lucid when witnessing this "future") just to see how long she would last. While Nube himself proved his worth in this tale, probably Miki is one of the most interesting scenarios here: even with her own happiness with Hiroshi and her triplets, she somehow still showed care and concern for her often-battling friend and had enough within her to help Kyouko finally realize the truth through reaction and lead her into getting saved by Nube. (as much as they get on each other's nerves at times, Miki and Kyouko are still friends) Though...at least we got confirmed that Kyouko's infamous "flat chest" is genetic...then again we probably saw that from Mrs. Inaba's first appearance...you can't all have the good luck of the Hosokawas.

BTW: this chapter is sort of significant in a couple other manners aside from it's weird "alternate future" idea. First of all, this chapter is close to essentially the mid-way point of the Nube manga. The next chapter technically is it (it's a 276-chapter series and half of 276 is 138), but this chapter just feels much better as a conclusion to the first half of the series. Likewise and the other notable factor: this chapter is also used as the final episode of the Nube anime. While there are a couple factors we haven't gotten to yet (some stuff in the next couple chapters and some of the OVA content taking from some later stories), everything from here on out is going to mostly be new for the anime-watchers reading this.