Hell Teacher Nube 148

There are many whose interests in life dwell in their past, but sometimes their past is more special than they realize. In a weather crisis in Doumori, Nube encounters a unique duo who may have something spiritual in their background...

#148: Ame Ame Fure Fure
(TN: The title of the chapter is based on a pre-school song with the first words of it being “Ame Ame Fure Fure”, which literally translates into “Rain Rain Falling Falling”. Due to the context of the nursery rhyme, I chose to keep the title in Japanese)

154.
Reporter: This is the worst water-shortage condition in history, without any collecting rain falling for four months as of today. The water jugs have reached bottom everywhere in the Kanto region and water supply restrictions occurring in various places.
Voice: Huh?
Nube: ?
SFX: Kyu kyu
Sign: Conserve Water
Ritsuko: What are you doing, Nueno? There’s a water outage this afternoon with the water supply restriction.
(TN: I don’t know if I should have had Ritsuko call Nube as “Nueno”, since she calls him “sensei” here and with my obsession with the translation to not really call them “sensei” unless it’s a title at the end of their name like “Nueno-sensei” as she usually calls him.)

155.
Nube: ……
SFX: Bari bari bori bori
Package: Ramen
Ritsuko: Nueno-sensei…I…occasionally can’t follow you…
Kyouko: Nube, it’s terrible! Hiroshi and the others are in a brawl!
Nube: Eh?
Package: Corn soup
Kyouko: There!
Katsuya: You guy
Hiroshi: We’ll kill you!
Nube: !
Nube: I feel youki. It can’t be there’s a youkai among the students…?

156.
Nube: Hey, can’t you stop that!
Hiroshi: Let me go. He’s evil.
(TN: Hiroshi merely calls his “victim” as “warui” which is “bad”, but it didn’t sound right to call him “he’s bad”, so I made it “evil” with the scenario)
Boy: Chi
Nube: The youki is from this boy…? But, he’s truly a human...he’s emitting youki though he’s human…?
Nube: Who are you?
Gou: Class 5-4: Furuta Gou.
Nube: The origin of this brawl?
Hiroshi: It’s this—water he’s using this afternoon with the water outage. He drew it, put it into this bucket and then

157.
Gou: Ah, this is a good bath~~is it?
SFX: Zaza~~~zaba zaba
Nube: What are you doing—at this opportunity—water is valuable— (A guy has to eat his cup ramen raw…)
Gou: Strange, what about water? My father…my father is going to make it rain immediately!
Gou: Your father will make it rain?
Hiroshi: What’s with just being about that? He seems to have one stupid experience…
Katsuya: That’s why he got angry when we said he never will.
Gou: My father isn’t acting stupid. My father is the greatest rainmaker in Japan.
(TN: Gou refers to his father as literally “amagoishi”; “amagoi” is Japanese for “rain dance”, as in the ritual done by certain cultures [like Native Americans] who use various arts and rituals to pray for rain. Since it is tough to really call him a “rain dancer”, I went with a more generic “rainmaker”, which refers to all sorts of rain making from the cultural to the scientific)

158.
Katsuya: Heh, you say that well. You have a head that looks like a Teru Teru Bozu.
(TN: “Teru Teru Bozu” is a traditional hand-made doll made of white paper or cloth used to bring good weather and prevent rainy day)
Hiroshi: Ya—y, ya—y, Teru Teru Bozu.
Gou: What—
Kyouko: Please stop that!
Nube: A rainmaker…is this some connection to that kid’s youki?
Nube: If you say so to that extent, then can’t we meet him? Your father.
Narrator: The next Sunday: Doumori Dam
Nube: Your father lives deep in the mountains?
Gou: Don’t be ridiculous: he’s making rain fall in this reservoir.
Gou: Fa—ther.
Machine: Raincloud #1
Nube: ? What is that machine…

159.
Mr. Furuta: No, don’t come here! It’s dange—rous…
SFX: Pi pi pi
Helmet: Safety First
SFX: Dokaaaan!
SFX: Moku moku moku
Mr. Furuta: OK, OK, success.
Mr. Furuta: Ha ha ha: you’ve come well, Gou.

160.
Mr. Furuta: Nice to meet you, I’m Furuta, a professor at Doumori University. (Ha ha ha)
Nube: Ah, I’m Nueno of Doumori Elementary…
Kyouko: He—your father’s a professor.
Gou: Eheh!
Mr. Furuta: I’ve been doing research on man-made rainfall and been taken to be called “The Doctor in the Rain”.
(TN: The expression he is using to describe himself is “Amefuri Hakase”, with “Amefuri” being “in the rain” literally, thus instead of calling him “the rain-falling doctor”, I made it “The Doctor in the Rain”)
Nube: Understood, thus you’re the rainmaker.
Gou: How’s that: my father’s a genius at making it rain.
Hiroshi: Chie, isn’t he a mere weirdo—?
Kyouko: Can he really make it rain!?
Nube: So, that machine was for making it rain too…?
Mr. Furuta: Ha ha ha, that’s right.
Mr. Furuta: This sends chemicals into the atmosphere as vapor; it destroys the atmosphere’s balance and makes it rain.
SFX: Juu—juu—

161.
Mr. Furuta: This method was discovered because heavy rain always fell after an artillery bombardment during World War I. Many rainmakers made it rain with this method and made a great amount.
Mr. Furuta: Among them, a famous one was C. Mallory Hatfield of America. He was a sewing machine salesman, but changed occupations into being a rainmaker. From 1902 to 1956, he made rain fall hundreds of times in Italy, Alaska, Canada and Argentina with a vapor he sprung forth from a barrel.
(TN: Charles Mallory Hatfield, living between 1875 and 1958 who was born in Ft. Scott KS and ultimately settled and lived in California, was a professional “rainmaker” who originally developed a secret mixture of 23 chemicals in galvanized evaporating tanks in 1902 which he claimed “attracted rain”. He began to show his goods in 1904 (not 1902, when he merely developed his technique) and had both some successes and failures in his rain-making venture, the most infamous involving him being possibly blamed for the flooding of the San Diego area due to his techniques in 1915-6, which he tried to not take blame for and fought for money for decades after (they promised money but decided not to pay because of the flooding) with the rulings ultimately being decided as “god-made” as opposed to Hatfield. He ended up taking the formula he used for making rain with him to his grave)
Nube: Ooh.
Mr. Furuta: Oh, look, it’s soon.
SFX: Gorogoro
Gou: He did it—dad, you’re a genius!
SFX: Gogogo…
SFX: Kaaaa…
Caption: Rain of sweat

162.
Mr. Furuta: Ha ha ha, don’t mind, no problem.
(TN: The expression used was one of “donmai”, which literally translates into “don’t mind” but it sort of felt off to have him repeat it twice, thus why I changed one of them to “no problem”)
Mr. Furuta: Then this time I’ll
SFX: Gacha gacha
Nube: What’s that?
SFX: Bashu
Mr. Furuta: We’ll sew silver iodide into these just-right alto-cumulus clouds. When silver iodide burns, the minute particles that emerge become water within the clouds, falling to the ground and becoming rain.
(TN: Silver Iodide [AgI] is a yellow inorganic photosensitive iodide of silver that is insoluble in water and generally used for cloud seeding)
SFX: Dokaa…n
Mr. Furuta: Look, now we’ll get heavy rain.

163.
SFX: Gogogogo…
SFX: Mi—n mi—n Chichichi…
Mr. Furuta: Ha ha ha (No~~I give, I give)
Mr. Furuta: Well, failure is the origin of success, hahaha.
Hiroshi: Isn’t failure the origin of failure?
Gou: What’s that—my father’s a genius.
Older Man: Furuta-kun, how is it?
Mr. Furuta: President.
(TN: He doesn’t literally call him “president” but “Gakuchou”, “University President”)

164.
President: Oh—oh—you’ve bought expensive-seeming equipment again.
Mr. Furuta: Ha ha ha: No~~thank you very much for the budget as always.
Budgeter: Actually it is about the budget, but we’re discontinuing it this year.
Mr. Furuta: Eh?
President: Your research hasn’t had relieving results…this is a futile, useless matter even to a university. Stop this worthless research and empty the research room of it.
(TN: It’s tough to really say “useless matter” in Japanese since the president uses “muyou no choubutsu”; “muyou” is “useless”, “futile” or “unnecessary” while “choubutsu” is “a useless thing” or a “white elephant”. It was tough to say “useless” twice so I tried to make it work with “futile, useless…”)
Mr. Furuta: Ah—th…that’s, hahaha…
Gou: Worthless research--? You blockhead--!
Mr. Furuta: Hey, stop that.
President: At any rate, if you don’t make it rain before today is over, you will not appear on next year’s budget.
Mr. Furuta: Right.

165.
Nube: This has become a terrible matter.
Mr. Furuta: No no, really (Hahaha…) But I’ll show him rain even if with willpower.
Tarp: Doumori University
Mr. Furuta: This is of some interest…my blood is excited on this. In truth my household has been rainmakers for generations…shamans, so you say. We’ve made it rain for the farming people since long ago. That’s why I don’t understand it somehow, but I feel a feeling of a strong mission.
(TN: The name that Mr. Furuta refers to himself as a “kitoushi”, which can be used for “shaman” or various other aspects of different shamanism, including medicine men, witch doctors or Japanese miko)
Nube: Hoo, rainmakers for generations. That’s some story that’s more about fate…
SFX: Bishi
Nube: N

166.
Nube: It’s quite weaker than his child, but I can feel the same youki. A lineage as rainmakers…
Nube: It can’t be that this father and son are…
Caption: Afternoon…
Mr. Furuta: Alright, now is our last chance. (Hahaha)
Gou: You can do this, father.
Mr. Furuta: I’ll discharge a high-tension current from an electrical tower 15m in height and freeze the water vapor in the atmosphere.

167.
Mr. Furuta: This method is one that was thought up by a person called Nobuhara Masataka in Meiji 34…in those days, he presented documents to the Imperial Diet that he transformed a 200 volt electric current into eighty-thousand volts, grounding the transformed minus-side of the drect current, discharging the plus charge and magnificently made it rain. This time I’ll strengthen it even further.
(TN: A few things:
1. While it’s tough to find any information in English about it, the tale of Nobuhara Masataka does have grounding in actually occurring in Japanese history and seen by some as a means to make it rain.
2. “Meiji 34” = 1901)
Caption: Nobuhara Masataka
Mr. Furuta: Let’s go this time.
SFX: Bari bari bari
Gou: Go, father.
Nube: It’s impossible…with a sky without one cloud…
Nube: Gou-kun, just a moment.
SFX: Gui
Gou: Ah, what are you doing? I must help my father.

168.
Nube: Gou-kun, I’m sorry.
SFX: Ba!
Gou: !? The Oni no Te?
Gou: What are you doing? I’m not a youkai, stop this!
Nube: Namu Daiji Daihi Kyuugu Kyuunan
SFX: Gashi!
Nube: --People that were called rainmakers long ago…there’s a theory that states that the roots to their power is that their ancestor was a youkai.
SFX: Paaaa…

169.
Nube: A youkai who possesses a youryoku to make rain fall…they intermingled with humans and those who inherited their ability became rainmakers. But as the years went by, this ability weakened.
Nube: But, Gou-kun, you are the one in generations whom was reborn with this ability. You’re an atavus. A strong youryoku is possessed in your body…you’ll be fine for a moment: I’m summoning this youkai ability for your father…
(TN: An “atavus”, also known in some ways as a “throwback”, is in reference to the concept of “atavism”, where a dormant trait of an organism suddenly appears within the offspring many generations later. There are many traits that are shown to be types of atavism, including even versions in humans like the growth of a tail or multiple breasts in women. The Japanese term is “senzogaeri” or “return to the ancestors”, which for the most part explains the term. I used the Latin term “atavus” here mostly since it didn’t feel right to merely call him a “throwback” and because “atavism” is not a noun; “atavus” is Latin for “Great-great-grandfather” or “ancestor”)
Nube: The youkai…Amefurashi…
(TN: “Amefurashi” is a youkai that literally translates into “falling rain”)

170.
Gou: Keke
SFX: Pyon pyon
SFX: Hyooooo
Gou: Ame ame fure fure--!!
SFX: Ba ba ba
Mr. Furata: He…here it comes.
SFX: Gogogo…

171.
SFX: Dozaaa~~

172.
Mr. Furata: Hahahaha, we’ve done it, we’ve done it Gou--! Your father did it!
President: I…I don’t believe it.
Budgeter: President…it can’t be that Furuta-kun has…
Nube: You’ve done well.
SFX: Suta
Nube: Well, please return to normal. You can’t come to have this if you’re returning to being a human…
Gou: Fathe—r!

173.
Hiroshi: Amazing—it’s finally raining. It’s a victory for science.
Nube: No…the bonds of father and son won.
Kyouko: By the way: did someone bring an umbrella?
Nube: Ah.

152.
Commemoration of 3 years of serialization:
NUBE-SENSEI’S ACCUSATION TRIAL
Defendant: Nueno Meisuke
Nube: Hmmm, it’s become serious already.

(Evidence #7)
Hey hey, Nube! I’ve discovered an amaazing mistake! It was in Vol. 15’s #124: “Bizarre: The Upside-Down School”. Nube placed a message on Izuna-chan’s pager. He had to put in “Kuchiyose (Necromancy; 924000)”, but it ended up being “Kuchiyoma” (9240000)”. With that, Izuna-chan wouldn’t understand the meaning and would have been defeated by the youkai. Since you’ve been keeping it as a secret, please tell me what it was.
Caption: This is the proof
Caption 2: there’s one too many 0s!

Nube: A~~haha! It was “Kuchiyoma”. That was strange. Ahaha!
Miki: Don’t laugh about that!
Kyouko: Ri—ght, ri—ght! Wasn’t this a matter that concerned our lives!
Nube: The—re the—re. Wasn’t this great? That’s because Izuna-kun mistakenly read it after all and ultimately understood the meaning exactly.
Miki: He doesn’t reflect on it at all. That man.

Judgment:
Guilty
(Surprisingly those who noticed it were few…but it was a terrible mistake. We’re sorry. Spoken with “Bukimi-chan”, Vol. 15 had many reckless mistakes…)
(TN: I can see why Nube cracked up: considering his mood with Izuna that chapter, I wouldn’t be surprised if he made the mistake on purpose and Izuna just happened to pick it up…since there really isn’t a “kuchiyoma”. Incidentally, I did translate “Kuchiyose” above to the English meaning mostly due to the whole mess back in that chapter with paging and to show that it was Japanese pager terms with an English translation)

--For this reason, the mistakes that have piled up as was planned up to now have generally been confessed to this time. However, we may not have gotten them all with this. Possibly there may already be new mistakes hiding even in this Vol. 17…Those I think we’ll again want to show the pen and have them repent. So then…

TN: I still say he did it to screw with Izuna myself, crisis or no crisis.

As for the chapter...amazingly after the mess that the last "random new character we only meet for a chapter" we got a few chapters ago with the hand-washer, I really liked this one and the two one-shot characters that were used this time around. Gou and his dad were very enthusiastic and fun characters, knowing of the failures they kept getting but continuing to try their hardest no matter what they did. In some ways, I actually liked Mr. Furuta more than I liked his son, mostly because it was fun seeing a guy using science to try and solve a problem in a typically spiritual series. (gave me some vibes of Ootsuki-sensei...but less belligerent and even more disconnected to the spiritual even with the background) But that doesn't mean I hated Gou: he was very enthusiastic, sort of reminded me for some reason though of Jack from MAR, but don't ask me why that came about. In some ways the climax of the story was a tad confusing but still clever: with all the aspect of human/youkai relations as of late in the manga, activating an ativism in Gou that let him use the power of Amefurashi to cure the drought was a very neat way of resolving the problem...and heck, it even worked for Furuta's side as well: since youkai are impossible to see by normal people, the president thought he made the rain himself and didn't know that his son was temporarily changed into a state one of his great-great-great grandparents (or older) could have been. Somehow the one shot characters this time really was an apology for the mess of a few chapters ago...but the less we talk of the Azuki-Arai incident, the better.