Hell Teacher Nube 153

As much as is known regarding Nube's past, there are still major holes, particularly in how he possibly possessed the basic heart of doing right in the first place. However, the answer to this question may be surprising...and a tad sad...

#153: Nube: The Man Who Knows The Past

72.
“Busty Woman”: Ufufu (heart) It’ll be great even if I touch them (heart)
Narrator: Night-Watch Room…7 in the evening.
“Busty Woman”: Ufu~~~n (heart) Aha~~~n (heart)
Tape: The Healthy Lewd Big-Sister

73.
Kyouko: Nube!
SFX: Gacha
“Busty Woman”: Ufu~~n (heart) Faste~~r (heart)
Hiroshi: It gets late when we make the grade paper.
SFX: Doka doka doka
Miki: I want to watch it. We’ll watch that on TV--!
SFX: Gacha gacha
Nube: G…go home and watch it. Enough!
SFX: Gaji gaji | Pachi
Hiroshi: We won’t be in ti—me.
TV Voice: Well, tonight we will invite you into the world of real spirits. He is the greatest spiritualist in Japan, the ultimate exorcist of this century…Mugenkai Jikuu!
(TN: Without saying anything more, the “name” of this exorcist is rather peculiar: “Mugenkai” is Japanese for “Infinite Worlds” or the “World of Infinity” or, if you go with “Mu-Genkai” as opposed to “Mugen-Kai” like prior, stands for “No Limits”; while “Jikuu” is literally Japanese for “space-time”.)

74.
(TN: The kanji on Jikuu’s headband is the one for “Mu”, which is like his name but has a literal meaning of “Null” or “Nothing”)

75.
Announcer: Well, the exorcism of Mugenkai Jikuu has finally started! Please watch: this is a real exorcism. Ah! Now something is emerging from the body of the test subject!
Sign: Tonight, He Will Show You the Way!! The World of Mugenkai Jikuu
Announcer: Amazing! This is a real image; this is not special effects!
Hiroshi: Amazing: there’s a person who can do this other than Nube.
Announcer: Kyaaa!!
SFX: Kuwa
Jikuu: Namu Daiji Daihi Kyuugu Kyuunan! Ha---!!

76.
Announcer: He…he’s done it! Magnificent! This isn’t anything we’ve ever seen.
Hiroshi: Amazing—with one blow…which is stronger, him or Nube?
Miki: Somehow I don’t know of his strength but this man Jikuu takes in millions of yen for one exorcism. Even so, there’s no end to his exorcism requests with him making noise on TV and in the magazines and he’s making a killing off it; and recently he’s built a palatial residence in Den’en Choufu.
(TN: “Den’en Choufu” is a district of Oota Ward in southern Tokyo notable for being one of the major top-class residency neighborhoods in the city)

77.
Kyouko: There’s something unpleasant—on that sort of greed.
Miki: Seems so. Even Nube should follow a bit of his example. If he did, he may have been driving a Benz by now.
Nube: ……
Narrator: Several days later.
Kyouko: It’s a 2nd grade child.
Miki: They want an exorcism by Nube.
Hiroshi: This member of the lower-grade section of the soccer club has been absent all this time. He’s been going back and forth to a doctor but…somehow it’s strange.
Nube: Hmm.
Nube: Thanks, we’re specifically sorry for this.
Voice: No worry.

78.
Nube: It’s a Yakootsuki.
(TN: A bit on this youkai will be explained and understood by the Supplemental)
Mother: U…um, so that’s ultimately an evil spirit?
Nube: Yes…a worrysome evil spirit.
SFX: Guchu guchu
Mother: Um…we are poor and…well…we don’t have any expression of our gratitude…
Nube: Ah, no, that’s
Miki: It’ll be fine: Nube has no relation to money…no, he’s not greedy.
(TN: This part probably needs a bit of explanation to be understood: Miki originally calls Nube “En ga nai”, which is the “no relation to money”; but considering how she ended up correcting herself with Nube’s money obsessions in ways not tied to his spiritual matters (and typical poverty), she changed it to “yoku ga nai” or “is not greedy”)
Nube: “Humans become idiots and rescue people”. (Ha ha ha)
(TN: Nube’s expression here seems to be tied to the expression of “you can’t save people from stupidity” or “you can’t fix stupid”, stating that “there are people who become idiots and then try to save others unaware of what they’re doing and being too stupid to stop it”…but I’m really not sure myself)
Voices: Wait.

79.
Kyouko: Mugenkai Jikuu!
Hiroshi: Wh…why is he in this place!?
Miki: Plea—se give me your autograph!
Father: I called him. The money I’m borrowing with the collateral on the house.
Mother: De…dear…
Jikuu: Hmph: Humans become idiots and rescue people? Ridiculous! You are as you usually are, you waste teacher!
(TN: The expression Jikuu uses on Nube is “Kuzu Kyoushi”, which is literally “waste teacher” or “scrap teacher”)

80.
Nube: You are as you usually are: taking advantage of a person’s weakness and stepping on them with a great cost. You waste spiritualist.
Kyouko: Eh…!? What, those two are acquaintances…?
Miki: Scoop, scoop!
Nube: Go home! I’ll exorcise him.
Jikuu: Fu, that will be decided by the customer.
Father: I saw him on TV. If that’s Jikuu-san, then he’s reliable.
Mother: Bu…but…
Jikuu: It’s decided. Out of the way! Well, will outsiders go outside?
Jikuu: If you want to, you should watch there. I am not a volunteer like you. I am an artisan. I will show skill.

81.
Jikuu: Fu, is this Yakootsuki…
SFX: Kirari
SFX: Tsu…
SFX: Nuu
SFX: Picha…picha…
Jikuu: It is a youkai that clings to wounds. It goes in from the wound and, after that, licks with a poison tongue even the smallest of wounds, festering them and making them larger…

82.
Jikuu: The way to remove a Yakootsuki is to turn the possessed person to the lucky direction and lay them on their side.
Jikuu: Put clean water into the body, write an incantation on the chest, place a sword on their stomach, recite a sutra, turn it three times to the left and it will drop.
Nube: …A vexing but precise exorcism. Why would you use this power to make money…
Jikuu: Long ago…I too had a family. We were poor but we were a happy household of three, parents and child…

83.
Jikuu: I was a well-intentioned spiritualist. Without taking any money regardless of exorcism… the poor people relied on me and formed a line for me every day.
Jikuu: I was beloved by the people in the town. That was my pride.
Jikuu: However…one day, my beloved wife broke down with an illness.
Jikuu: My wife’s sickness was serious and they said we needed a great cost for surgery. It was an outrageous amount for a poor household.
Jikuu: I had regret. If I had taken even a bit of money for my exorcisms up to now…

84.
Jikuu: There was nothing I could do: I ran around for the innocence of money of the people I had saved up to now. But there wasn’t even one person who could loan to me even a bit of money. On the contrary, they were awkward towards me and drove me away.
(TN: The verb used by Jikuu to explain the “awkward towards me” is the verb known as “kemutagaru”, which typically is “to be sensitive to smoke”, but is also somewhat in conjunction to “kemutai”, which is “feeling awkward” alongside “smoky”. Due to this, I used the “they were awkward towards me” part)
Jikuu: And then…finally…
“Boy”: Mother!!
“Mother”: ………………
SFX: Za—za—

85.
Jikuu: At that moment…I understood. Good intentions…are a simplicity that isn’t understood at all by people of this egotistical society.
Jikuu: And thus, my wife’s death taught me. It is money! That is everything in this world!
Boy: Uuh…
Boy: Uwaaaa
SFX: Byurururu…
Jikuu: Ku!
Nube: Damn it, it is acting violently in desperation…
SFX: Shu
Nube & Jikuu: !!

86.
SFX: Zaku
Jikuu: Gu
Jikuu: A wound…damn it! It…possesses by wounds.
SFX: Byurururu…
Jikuu: Uoooo!
Nube: Jikuu!!
Nube: !

87.
Nube: I’ll assist you, Jikuu!
SFX: Su
SFX: Zuba
Jikuu: What!?
SFX: Ooooooh…

88.
Jikuu: You idiot…are you sane!? Your spiritual power can’t contend with that…you’ll be defeated!!
Nube: In truth…it’s impossible with just my spiritual power…but I have a trump card with my left hand… (Haa haa)
Nube: Namu Daiji Daihi Kyuugu Kyuunan! Oni no Te, now release your power.
Jikuu: !!
SFX: Doba
Nube: Guaa!!

89.
Nube: Seal…return to normal…
SFX: Shuu
Jikuu: The…Oni no Te…that is!?
Nube: Yes…I instantly released its power and it expanded to within my arm…it was a life-risking tactic where I would reasonably blow away Yakootsuki with the Oni’s power and further possess the poison and get the better of it…
Jikuu: --But that should be a dangerous technique even to you yourself…why for me, whom you don’t like…?
Jikuu: Humans become idiots and rescue people…is it? You seem like a true idiot. Hahahahahaha.

90.
Nube: Your dead wife loved the form of you saving people with good intention.
Nube: I wanted to be like that too…
Nube: Humans become idiots and rescue people.
Nube: Those were the words mother left to me just before she died. Dad.

91.
Jikuu: ……Worthless…further, don’t call me your father anymore…I’ve…thrown you away…
Kyouko: How was it, Nube!
Hiroshi: That showdown of spiritual power!? Did you win?
Father: Um…the money…
Jikuu: I won’t take it. It was exorcised by him…

92.
Nube-sensei’s
(Useless) SUPPLEMENTAL EXPLANATION

#3: Yakootsuki

Yako is written as “Field Fox”. In short, Yakootsuki is a variety of Kitsunetsuki. Primarily, it is distributed from the west to the south of Kyuushu. Since it is always active as a group, they say “A company of a thousand Yako” around Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture.

There is what is called “The Yako Secret Incantation Formula”, a secret prayer for removing foxes that is handed down by the Great Inari Shrine. By this, the way to remove a Yako is:
1. Turn the possessed person to a direction with a good omen and recite a spell
2. Place clean water onto their body and write an incantation on their chest
3. Place a sword on top of their stomach and chant a Shingon incantation 7 times
4. After this, apply the sword to the left side of the chest and turn to the left three rotations.

The fox will be removed by the above-mentioned method.
(TN: A few notes to mention here:
1. The “yako is written as field fox” part is literally a translation tied to the basic word that is written in katakana being translated into kanji, with the literal translation the one that “written as” was first.
2. As mentioned prior, “yako” is a type of fox that possesses in Kyushu as a kitsunetsuki.
3. Hirado generally refers to an island in Nagasaki prefecture where the city is located, but with recent consolidations, part of it now exists as well on Kyushu proper. As part of the Nagasaki area that had connection to the West during the Tokugawa Shogunate, it was a major trading area between the Japanese and the Dutch, Japan’s main trading partner with the West during the closed-off period.
4. The “Great Inari Shrine” or “Inari Taisha” most generally has a connection to the Fushima Inari Shrine of Kyoto, the main shrine usually used as the patron of businesses and agriculture.)

TN: Well...it's really tough to say anything after a chapter like this. I mean, we finally have met Nube's own father in this chapter and yet...well, he's a money-grubbing jerk who has been utterly scarred by the past to the point of diverging this far from his own old ideals. It's really tough to say whether or not what Jikuu did was logical, cynical or downright wrong considering the complexity of the situation and the man who is center to it all. Jikuu did love his wife and even Nube once upon a time and did seem like he was devoted enough to do anything for them out of the kindness of his heart, the same kindness that allowed for him to do exorcisms out of good will instead of for any sort of profit. I assume that somehow either he or Mrs. Nueno possessed a job that allowed for them to live barely within their means, presumably alongside the part-time exorcism position Mr. Nueno/Jikuu had before all the hell that happened. As for his fall and corruption, unfortunately it just shows how cruel the world can be to those with kindness. We know that money rules in many facets of society and that medicine is tied down to massive bills, but it was a combination of many factors that forced Mr. Nueno to evolve into the greedy Jikuu. On one hand was the mere desire that he couldn't let go of his wife, which is a natural feeling for anyone who had a domestic situation like he did. He was happy with him and with his son Meisuke, and he didn't want things to change the way they did, particularly with as sudden and uncontrollable as they were. Secondly was merely the betrayal of his beliefs by the cruel nature of humanity towards the world around them. If the doctor performed the surgery while allowing for Mr. Nueno to slowly pay it back or on the house, then maybe he wouldn't have gotten desperate for the money needed to save his wife's life. And if it weren't for the people he once saved turning their back on him in his moment of need (even though they were in poverty too so it would be hard for them to help them if they can't help themselves either), then Mrs. Nueno would have lived and Nube wouldn't have been abandoned like that since his father wouldn't have been corrupted into thinking money was the only answer to the usage of spiritual power.

In a way, Nube hasn't fallen down the path of Jikuu because of what he learned from his parents, as well as what he had experienced with things such as Minako-sensei and gaining the power of the Oni no Te. Nube knows that kindness is a factor that is hard to come by in this world, but it is what is needed in order to allow for people to survive, no matter if it doesn't lead to a profit ultimately. Furthermore, probably another major key that allows for Nube to stay free with his exorcisms and to keep his good nature is that he chose to become something to make a living off of that didn't rely on the spiritualism that is so valued and important in a society like this. If Nube chose to make spiritualism a business instead of a passion and a duty, he could have made a massive fortune by now. But instead, he binds his income to his work as a teacher, thus allowing to live and likewise allowing for him to do his spiritual work for free without a need to make profit on it. Of course, being a teacher also allows for him to be reminded of doing good as a teacher for others, which is a good reminder of doing good as a spiritualist and exorcist.

It's really hard to say if or how Jikuu can be redeemed...considering all that ended up turning him into the man that Nube is now ashamed of. He does still have a bit of his nature as Mr. Nueno in him as we saw with the ending where he let Nube have the credit and the exorcism be done for free but it's tough for him to say he has learned a lesson regarding his former nature. All I can really say though is that while he doesn't show up often, Jikuu is probably one of the most important characters in Nube due to how he shaped his son and how his impact ended up making Nube who he is in both a positive and negative fashion. Whether he'll be redeemed, though, is a matter of what happens next...