Hell Teacher Nube 174

Long ago, people watched the skies for signs of change, including of potential doom. But with the skies aglow with a unique celestial phenomenon, it may also bring someone that could bring about...a disaster of massive proportions!?

#174: Extinction of Doumori Town!? The Comet Summons a Yakubyougami

131.
Announcer: Today at 8 PM, the Hale-Bopp Comet will be at its closest towards Earth.
(TN: The “Hale-Bopp Comet”, also known as C/1995 O1, is a comet discovered by Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp in 1995 that became extremely notable due to its extremely close approach to Earth for a period of 18 months of 1996-1997, with its greatest appearance between March 22nd and April 9th 1997. (close to the release date of this chapter). Due to its massive size and approach, it also possesses the nickname of the “Great Comet of 1997”.)
Announcer: Its size is larger than even Halley’s Comet; it can be confirmed already by even the naked eye and has given pleasure to a mania in astronomy.
(TN: For those who don’t know, Halley’s Comet (1P/Halley) is the best known comet tied to its consistent orbit near Earth and appearing consistency every 75-76 years and it’s visibility to the naked eye by humans. It last appeared around Earth in 1986 and will not be making its next approach until 2061)
Sign: Doumori Station
SFX: Kotsu…kotsu…kotsu…

132.
(Title page…yeah, freaky looking man with bug eyes, a suit and a suitcase…nothing suspicious here, folks, move along)

133.
Nube: Long ago—comets were ominous symbols. People dreaded in them as doing a thing that would invite sickness or calamity. However, they were identified as friends of stars that circled in a circumference of the sun by 18th Century astronomer Halley—
(TN: Though Halley’s Comet has been seen and known since prehistoric times, it was Edmond Halley who calculated the orbit of the comet that bears his name. He published in 1703 the “Synopsis Astronomia Cometicae” which made determination of the comet that passed around Earth being the same every time and correctly predicted the next appearance of the comet in 1758. (strangely the only real notable event of the only time it did appear in his lifetime, 1682 [21 years before discovering the truth about it], was his marriage to his wife, Mary Tooke…)
Nube: This came to seem to make us widely intimate in the shows of heavenly bodies of this majestic universe. For this reason, those who are interested in observing the comet today shall be gathering on the roof tonight.
Hiroshi: Nube, that’s fine but let’s stop this kanji test.
Nube: No way, no way: this enjoyable thing will be after studies.
Nube: N
SFX: Ba—n!!

134.
Kyouko: How—is it?
Nube: N…no, it’s nothing. Please continue the test……
Magazine: Monthly Eroero
Hiroshi & Katsuya: Stopped him, stopped him
(TN: This is the same “usse” that Hiroshi and Katsuya did last chapter…all we know is they seem to say it when they’re cheating but I still don’t quite know what it means and just inferred it based on what they’re doing)
Makoto: Fufufu, this comet will be fun.
Hiroshi: Then,since we’re going home for the moment, we’ll gather at the school later.
Makoto: I’ll go through the park and take a shortcut.
Sign: Doumori Park

135.
SFX: Musha musha
SFX: Gasa gasa
Mouse: Chu—chu—(Squeak—squeak--)
“Strange Man”: ………
Makoto: N? What is that man doing…
Mouse: Chu~~chu~~
Mouse: Chu~~
SFX: Chiri chiri chiri

136.
Makoto: Stop that, old guy!
(TN: Makoto is performing a “kancho” on him, the infamous pain-inducing method of putting fingers up the butt-hole to inflict pain on someone)
SFX: Zubo!
Makoto: Are you alright? He was doing a cruel thing.
“Strange Man”: Boy, it stole my bread. It’s natural to kill it.
Makoto: It’s fine if you shared your bread.
Makoto: Look. It’s got a huge belly. I’m certain it’s giving birth to children. That’s why it needs nourishment.
Makoto: No matter how small the life, it lives with all its might. That’s why you don’t have the right to take the life of anyone. Regardless of how great you are old man, even if you’re a god or a devil

137.
Makoto: If they have life, that’s a valuable thing.
“Strange Man”: …Fu, understand, boy. In truth…It’s not good to take a life that’s living with all its might.
“Strange Man”: There, shall I gradually be going? Here we go.
SFX: Goto
Makoto: That’s a large briefcase…is he a peddling man…?
Punk: Ora, out of the way, oldie!
SFX: Ga
“Strange Man”: Ah

138.
SFX: Dobaa~~
Makoto: !?

139.
Punk: Wh…what are these~~!
SFX: Bara bara
Punk: Coffins…? Miniature…?
“Strange Man”: Don’t touch those!
SFX: Ga
Punk: !
SFX: Butsu butsu butsu…
Punk: Uh uh uwaaaaa~~

140.
SFX: Do
Makoto: Waaaa!! Wh…what was that, old man…
Yakubyougami: I am Yakubyougami. In short…a god who transports disease…
(TN: “Yakubyougami” I am leaving in Japanese due to it being the name of the god. But in general, the being has many names in translation, including “pestilence”, “plague” or simply “The Angel of Death”)
Yakubyougami: Today, a dreadful disease that has yet to be encountered by mankind will flourish in this town of Doumori.
Yakubyougami: These caskets are those where the souls of the people who die today will go in.
Makoto: So…so, many will die…

141.
Makoto: Is…is the disease inside that suitcase too?
Yakubyougami: No……
Yakubyougami: It is currently being discovered by some scientists now but…the virus is coming from space, riding on a comet or a meteor. Within the comet are the raw materials of organic matter: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, etc; it’s temperature is 30 degrees Celsius; so it isn’t strange that there would exist living things. The dust will downpour from the comet to Earth…
Yakubyougami: Within the dust is filled with dreadful bacteria and virus. Starting with influenza, AIDS, Ebola Fever, etc.…for hundreds of times in the past, I have been summoned, attracted above ground by those bacteria and viruses.
Mouse: Chu—
Bag: Anpan
SFX: Suru
Yakubyougami: The damage of the comet won’t end just today…from here on, tens of thousands will die…the town of Doumori is the epicenter.
SFX: Pata…

142.
Yakubyougami: Aah, yes yes: where is the highest skyscraper in this town?
Makoto: It…it’s the Doumori 30 Building…
Yakubyougami: Thank you, boy. There was some connection even in meeting you here. Please quickly run from this town.
SFX: Kotsu…kotsu…
Makoto: A…auuh, th…this is terrible…
Kyouko: Nube, how about we eat the sweets?
Hiroshi: Night meal, night meal.
Nube: No no, since we’re observing.
Nube: Mu!

143.
Nube: …………
Magazine: Sukebe
SFX: Paku paku
Makoto: Teacher---!!
Nube: What, Yakubyougami?
Kyouko: Hahaha, what is that?
Makoto: It’s true. He was fully possessing small coffins……
Nube: Small…coffins!?

144.
Sign: Doumori 30 Building
Nube: If that really was Yakubyougami, this will become dreadful. The town of Doumori will go extinct.
(TN: My biggest problem with the word used by Nube here and in the title of the chapter is the context of how it is supposed to be used. The word here is “Shimetsu”, which has one of three usages: “annihilation”, “destruction” or “extinction”. Typically “annihilation” is the Japanese word “shoumetsu”, with the first kanji inferring to “erase”, making it work perfectly for its meaning. “Kaimetsu”, which is generally used for “destruction”, uses the kanji of “kai”, or “destroy”. But “shimetsu” uses “shi”, the kanji for “death” as the first one inferring to all the people who will die from the mystery virus from the comet. Thus, the best term to use regarding the “death of everyone” turned out to be not “annihilation” (which is utter obliteration of everything) or “destruction” (which seems to more infer to inanimate objects and not people) but “extinction” (which infers that just the people will die from the virus))
Kyouko: Nube, do something.
Nube: He’s on the roof!
Nube: !

145.
Yakubyougami: Heaven: you are chiming an alarm bell on the people, who have sinfully treated you arrogantly. People are known by you and you understand them as petty. This is the will of God.
Nube: Give up, Yakubyougami!
Makoto: Stop this!
Yakubyougami: Boy…you didn’t run? You’re foolish.
Yakubyougami: It’s futile. My ceremony can’t be stopped by anyone. Ooh, Heaven, let fall the Black Terror.

146.
Nube: Stop! Namu Daiji Daihi Kyuugu Kyuunan…
SFX: Bari bari bari
Yakubyougami: Don’t get in the way!
SFX: Ka
Nube: Guaa!!
SFX: Boko boko | Bushuuu~~

147.
Hiroshi: Nube!
SFX: Puchi puchi
Nube: Uaaa
Kyouko: Nube’s been defeated!!
Yakubyougami: I am a messenger who executes the will of Heaven; I cannot be stopped by a human. Well, the ceremony is at it’s end…
Yakubyougami: Black Terror, rain down and bring calamity to the Earth.
Yakubyougami: Take the souls just of the number of the coffins and take your revenge on humans.
Yakubyougami: Just the number of coffins…
SFX: Gacha…
Yakubyougami: !!

148.
Mice: Chu—chu—chu—chu—
Yakubyougami: The mouse…bit up the coffins…and made a nest…
Mouse: Chu—chu—
Yakubyougami: A nest for giving birth to children…
Yakubyougami: This comet isn’t suitable anymore…ku…
Yakubyougami: Kukuku……….hahaha………
SFX: Shu--….
Makoto: Ah…he’s healing…

149.
Yakubyougami: Hahahahahaha
Yakubyougami: It seems you narrowly escaped death.
Yakubyougami: Boy, when there is life that lives with all its might, an amazing power is utilized and miracles occur.

150.
Nube-sensei’s
(Useless) SUPPLEMENTAL EXPLANATION

#18: Comets

Saying this just to be sure, shooting stars and comets are different things. Since shooting stars are dirt and meteorites of space that are pulled and fall by the earth’s gravity and burn up with the friction of the atmosphere, at most they can only be seen for several seconds, but a comet can be seen for several months as a heavenly body that moves in space as depicted by a very long orbit. In short: shooting stars are phenomenon in the atmosphere; comets are phenomenon of the void of space. (Occasionally, there are people who confuse them.

Since the tail of a shooting star is simply burning refuse, it stretches out to the back for certain; but since the tail of a comet (Plasma Tail) is something where plasma flies out to the solar wind, it stretches to a direction opposing the sun. Therefore when it approaches the sun, the tail is in the rear, but conversely when it is far from the sun, the tail stretches forwards. There can’t be a tail in a distant place where it can’t take the influence of the solar wind. Also, aside from the Plasma Tail, there can also be a tail of rubbish (Dust tail) that flies by the evaporation of gas. (In short: a comet has two tails).

The real form of a comet is said to be “a dirty snowball”, a mass of ice. However, when its orbit is chased diligently, each aphelion (when it is furthest from the sun) of a comet can be understood with concentrating within a fixed range. From this, we can understand the “birthplace” of a comet. Presently, it is thought that the two “comet birthplaces” of the “Oort Cloud” and the “Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt”.
(TN: A few things:
1. First of all, there is a term here used for “shooting star” that is “Nagareboshi”; but this term can also be used to be translated as “meteor”. However, with the whole talk of the similarity of shooting stars and comets, I chose to translate it as the former for this explanation. In the chapter, I ended up translating a similar “Nagareboshi” as “meteor” due to the conversation about foreign objects falling towards or around Earth.
2. Trying to better explain the phenomenon of the comet tails: they only emerge when the dust that reflects sunlight directly and the gases of the comet begin to glow due to ionization. Generally the dust and debris that make the comet and debris come from the “outer” Solar System and thus only become to emerge in the inner Solar System, due to their approach to the sun.
3. The “Oort Cloud”, also known as the “Opik-Oort Cloud”, is a spherical cloud of comets theorized to exist 50,000 AU/light year from the sun, a quarter of the distance from our galaxy to the next nearby. This cloud possesses various ice, including water, ammonia and methane and stated as the origin area of all “long-period comets”.
4. On the other hand, the Kuiper Belt is a region of the solar system beyond the main planets composed of other ices as well as dwarf planets including Pluto (the largest object of the area), Haumea and Makemake.)

TN: I think we need a bit of music for this chapter, don't we?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ycOp67eLoM (somehow when I wrote the script, I remembered the opening scene of the mini-series of "The Stand"...sadly that's all I really saw of it but it just fit the chapter perfectly)

So...I think we get the point, right? Yeah...just want to make sure considering I don't want Makoto to get down my throat about it again. Somehow the whole "life is precious and important" theme the chapter gives off really should be about the whole matter with the comet and the potential for plague that nearly came about because of it, but the whole thing just felt like it could be interpreted in ways that it really shouldn't be intended. In particular the way it used a pregnant mouse to get it across...all I'm saying is this: there better not be any anti-abortion people using this chapter as propeganda because that's not what its about. Sure they could interpret it in that way but that really is taking things to a place I don't think I want to go to. Heck, anything with that pregnant mouse seemed to ruin the chapter, both the beginning...and that ending. I really just don't get how a pregnant mouse giving birth can stop or affect millions of people from not getting killed by some space virus coming down from comet dust. I know it was trying to get across the whole "will to live" aspect of the chapter, but it just felt like it was a rather silly way to do so. What a mouse does to survive really doesn't affect the potential of people trying to live their lives or shouldn't affect the potential of a germ that could come down to kill so many. Though with that mouse aside, everything between it's appearances was actually pretty good. I love the Yakubyougami in this chapter, from it's appearance as this "strange thin suited man with a suitcase" to destroying Nube with it's power and the weird ranting as if it expects the comet virus to come down and for him to clean up after it. Though...considering the Yakubyougami is supposed to merely be the "clean-up man"/"harbringer of doom" that he said he was to Makoto, the speech makes it seem like he was the one sending the virus down as the judgement of heaven as opposed to it merely being a natural phenomenon of the space virus. (then again now it makes me wonder if I should have used some "Night of the Living Dead"/"Dawn of the Dead" song...you do realize zombie viruses generally come from space, right?) I sort of wish that the ending had a different way instead of saving the world with a pregnant mouse though...like maybe showing Nube's "will to live" through looking at porn through a telescope.

BTW: its not like people didn't die during Hale-Bopp's arrival anyway...there was the whole "Heaven's Gate" cult thing...