On Hakuna, today we give you something like a slice of life thing. Anyway, previously, Hakuna asked Nolitha out on a date, literally after vaporizing somebody, although a demon. Way to read the room. Anyway, she agreed, talk about being made for each other. So, they're gonna go on a date, weird. Oh right, I think we're gonna be chilled today so, carry on...
The Clueless Suitor
This might come across as very weird, but even though Hakuna has had his fair share of girlfriends throughout his life, he doesn't really know what going out on a date means. Okay, let's be honest, Hakuna had his last girlfriend when he was 11, and he was as naïve as a 5-year-old. So each girl who kisses him in any part of his face was automatically put in the girlfriend slot. Well, obviously his mom doesn't count in this situation, but you get it right? Right...
And so, with no knowledge of how to carry out being on an actual date, he had to ask someone about it. Yeah, we know, but somehow, Max was busy. Even I find that hard to understand, but, with that turn of events, coincidentally Sehloho was here. How? I don't know... so here comes an awkward conversation...
Hakuna is seen in the dining room at his house, sitting at the large oak table. Sehloho walks in, his posture straight, his expression neutral. "Hello, younger brother..." Sehloho says, his voice a flat, almost robotic monotone.
"Wait, isn't Max your younger brother? I'm the youngest..." Hakuna responds, realizing the confusion.
Sehloho takes a seat opposite to Hakuna, his movements precise and deliberate. He then deliberates, "Well, Max is my young brother, and since you're younger than him, you are my younger brother..."
Hakuna is left speechless, his brain short-circuiting at the bizarre logic. "Is that even grammatically possible?!" he thinks to himself.
Psycha chimes in, her voice a dry, amused whisper in his head. "Of course not. Your brother is, really weird..."
The room is silent for a moment, mostly because Hakuna forgot to reply to Sehloho, but then... Hakuna takes a sip of water, and before he swallows... "So, I heard you're going on a date..." Sehloho says, an extremely formal attempt to break the silence.
Hakuna immediately spits his water out in shock, a geyser of liquid soaking Sehloho's face and clothes. He then stammers frantically in response to Sehloho, "Is that really what you were getting to?! And how did you know, I haven't told anyone yet, and please try to start a conversation with something related to what you wanted to talk about, it just creeps people out!"
Sehloho then monologues, unreactive to himself being drenched in water, "I guess I never really thought of it that way. I'm always formal with the people I meet on a daily basis. I've never been one for social interactions and laid-back conversations..."
Sehloho continues to talk about his problems with being antisocial, and while it looks like he's paying attention, Hakuna is trying to figure out how his brother knew about his plans for today and also, what is he talking about? "Okay, Max doesn't know, not even Mom knows. Okay, I feel like I'm wasting my time here, so I'll stop..." he thought to himself.
Sehloho appears to have been trying to get Hakuna back. "Hakuna, Hakuna..." he calls out.
Sehloho prepares to punch Hakuna in the face, and still, no response. He throws the punch. Hakuna, acting on pure instinct, catches it and immediately snaps out of his reverie. "Huh, wha, huh? What in the hell!?" He yells.
"It seems as though you shut down for a second there..." Sehloho says flatly.
"Well, you probably forgot what you really wanted to talk about..." the boy replies.
"Your date? I already concluded that..." Sehloho speaks, his voice still monotone.
"Wait, what...?" Hakuna flinches.
"You weren't listening, were you?" Sehloho denotes.
Hakuna chuckles nervously, "Uh, no..."
Sehloho begins to summarize his advice, "Just take her to a nice place and, don't talk about yourself too much, and don't be too hasty to do anything until she lets you, and don't be a jerk..."
"How do you know these things?" The boy asks.
"If you listened, you would have known..."
Hakuna gets annoyed. "I think I'm gonna do a bit of training..." he says, standing up.
"I'll join you..." the clan leader declares.
A Lesson in Power
...In the Training Room...
The room is spacious, with padded walls and various training equipment. Sehloho asks, "Hakuna, do you have a special energy attack?"
Hakuna then explains, "Yes and no. Well, I use Dad's Kihimurra, but I've used it in different ways. There's Fist of Inferno, where I use Kihimurra as a catalyst and concentrate Nzilo into my fists, making them look like they're on fire, but they pack a huge punch. There's Atmospheric Burst; it's basically a defence mechanism. I basically shoot energy in every direction, blowing multiple enemies away. Then there's Concentrated Atmospheric Burst, a combination of both Fist of Inferno and Atmospheric Burst. I concentrate Atmospheric Burst in my fingertips but instead, I shoot out, making a more powerful and more lethal impact. But my most powerful is still..."
Hakuna raises his arm and points away from him and... "Kihimurra..."
He fires a powerful blast with relative ease, a blinding beam of pure energy. Sehloho thinks to himself, "He's managed to reach father's base level in so little time, a true prodigy indeed..."
Hakuna then says, "I've always seen you try to use your special attack, but I always stop you before you do. Why not show me now?"
"Hmm, I suppose I can..." Sehloho voices. He then raises his arm and points with his finger away from himself, and without saying a word, he fires a powerful blast almost equal to Hakuna's.
"Well, that's impressive..." the boy says. Suddenly, Hakuna could feel a wave of disappointment, a deep sense of dread. He's late for his date with Nolitha. "Uh oh..." he says, his eyes wide.
"What's wrong?" Sehloho questions.
"I'm late..." says the boy.
"Wait, when did you...?" Sehloho asks. He then thinks to himself, "Is it possible he already has it with this girl, but both must be Royal Entities. This is interesting..." He then attempts to speak, "Hakuna, eh..."
Hakuna had already left the training room. He runs outside his house and flies upwards, leaving a dust cloud while his mother, Justina, sits in the shade, watching. "When did he learn how to fly?" She asks, a look of complete bewilderment on her face.
The Goddess of Terror
...At the Restaurant...
Hakuna lands in front of Nolitha, shaking the ground as he lands, kicking up dust. He raises his head and sees Nolitha using her Death Stare. The very air around him feels cold and heavy. "What in the blazes is that?" he thinks to himself.
Psycha explains, "That, is Death Stare, Nolitha's ability, and also an indicator saying you're about to die..."
The atmosphere changes; it has a strange chill to it. "You're late..." the princess states, her tone a mix of calm and coldness. Hakuna can't help but feel afraid. So much so that his body jumped back without him realizing.
"Uh, I... I'm sorry, I was uh doing some training with my brother and lost track of..." he says, chuckling nervously.
"I already know that..." Nolitha responds, her voice still cold.
Hakuna thinks to himself, "Talk about being extensive. I can't even turn to run..." he says, overwhelmed by the princess's power.
Nolitha senses that Hakuna is afraid. She relaxes and shuts off her Talent. "The atmosphere is okay again. Oh my, I was getting ready to bolt..." the boy thinks to himself.
Nolitha then reprimands, "I'm really mad at you. When you decide on a time, stick to that time..."
"I'm sorry, my love, it won't happen again..." the prince says instinctively. They both freeze. That was weird. Hakuna has never said that in his entire life, and Nolitha has never heard it from anywhere other than her father. They both look at each other in the eyes.
Hakuna tries to break the silence, "You uh, want to go inside?"
"Yeah, I guess we should..." the princess responds.
They walk inside the restaurant, and their date begins. It happened again: Hakuna did not want to speak at all, so all he did was listen, until Nolitha snapped him out of it, and asked about him and his family. "Hakuna, why won't you tell me about you and your family?"
He then explains, "Well, my family is a little weird. I have two brothers, one of which has a son who's older than me but calls me uncle anyway, and three sisters, all of which can be very, VERY loud. There's also my mom; she recently got a job to be a nurse. It's weird how someone like her can be so humble. It does make sense since we were also raised to be that way despite our aristocracy..."
Hakuna pauses for a second. "What about your father?" She asks.
"My dad died when I was 5..." the boy says.
"Oh, I'm so sorry..." Nolitha murmurs.
"It's okay. When I'm old enough, I have to pick up where he left off, but my eldest brother seems to be handling things, but that's the thing, I'm not even sure I want to be king..." the boy then vents.
"Why not?" Nolitha questions.
Hakuna then continues, "The life of a king can be described in a saying I heard from somewhere, "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself a villain"..."
"I don't get it..." the princess responds, confusion present in her voice.
"I don't have a bone in my body that allows me to be even ruthless. My brother does, though. I mean, his name literally means "Ruthless" ..." the boy explains.
Wait, what? Wow...
Nolitha offers a suggestion, "Then why not be a kind king?"
"Kind kings always get stabbed in the back..." the boy responds.
"I had no idea..." she says.
"It's fine, I'm just not made for this world full of egotistical people who always want to show off how much power they have. I'm what my clan shows off, basically a weapon. I'm no king..." Hakuna says.
He's also an egotistical simpleton, but still, that's kinda sad...
Hakuna doesn't realize it yet, but this is the first time he's ever really opened up to someone. He already feels like he could trust Nolitha with his life, and this reflects that. "Would you mind telling me about your family?" He asks.
"I'm not sure you're ready to hear about those people yet..." Nolitha warns.
"Huh, why?" Hakuna questions.
"Well, they're scarier than me..." she replies. Hakuna has a worried look on his face, because of two things: what Nolitha just said, and he just sensed that a presence he knows just vanished.
She asks, "What's wrong?"
"Someone I know is here. They just hid their presence, but they probably don't know that it raises even more suspicion..." the prince replies, now focused.
"I was doing it on purpose, you simpleton..." Super chimes in, appearing beside the couple.
By the time Super said his first word, Hakuna had already grabbed Nolitha and jumped back 50 meters into the restaurant. "What in the hell!? What are you doing here?" The prince asks, surprised by his reaction and Super's presence.
Nolitha thinks to herself, "I didn't even realize that we moved. Hakuna is fast..."
Super is dumbfounded, "How did you get all the way there?"
"I don't know. Wait, no, answer my question!" Hakuna says.
Super then speaks, "Relax, blockhead, I was passing by, and I saw you looking all lovey-dovey. I wanted to take a picture, but you were too far, so I decided to scare you instead..."
"Wait, why would you, oh my goodness..." Hakuna palms his face.
"Exactly..." Super says, vindictive of his actions.
Hakuna then says, "Well, it's not gonna happen, so give up and go home..."
"I'll get you one day..." Super voices. He then vanishes.
"His whole face gives me stress. Anyway, do you want to take a walk?" The prince voices.
"Sure..." Nolitha responds.
During the walk, they were both silent until a guy who radically attacked Hakuna a while ago walked past. Hakuna then sheepishly calls out to the guy, "Hey, you, it's you, aren't it? You're the guy who tried to kill me a while ago..."
Nolitha thinks to herself, "Uh, why is he so casual about this?"
The man looked at Hakuna in fear and ran away. Hakuna then yells out, "Sorry bro, I can't chase you right now, kinda busy at the moment..."
Nolitha, in shock, asks, "So, are you gonna tell me how and why that guy was trying to kill you?"
"It's nothing serious; he obviously can't kill me..." Hakuna says casually.
"But still, you were a little bit too casual about this ordeal..." the princess asks worriedly.
"I guess you're right, I guess it's how I am, I never take things too seriously..." Hakuna says.
"Oh, like you, not taking our date seriously by showing up late?" Nolitha mentions.
Hakuna looks around nervously and spots a street vendor selling flowers. "Uh, you want flowers? Let me buy you flowers..." he says, attempting to divert the conversation. Nolitha gets distracted for a moment. She sees Black Hellfire Roses. Hakuna already knew that she wanted those because they were in her favourite colour.
"How much are those?" He asks the vendor.
"My dear boy, these Black Hellfire Roses are priceless. You can only ever see them at the mouth of a dormant volcano..." the man says.
"I'll give you R50,000 for them..." the prince declares.
"Ahh, you're one from a wealthy family, I see. Money means nothing to me, boy..." the vendor recoils.
"I don't care what money means to you. If I can use it to make her happy, then why wouldn't I?" Hakuna speaks. Nolitha blushes.
"Fine. I still won't take your money; however, I will tell you an easier way to get them..." the man says.
"What's easier than paying for them?" Hakuna asks sarcastically. The street vendor smacks a bouquet of sunflowers on Hakuna's head. "You Spoilt Simpleton! You can win them in a fight..."
"Fight?" The prince asks.
The man continues, "Yes, there's another vendor west of here who gives people the chance to win them in a fight against one of his men. However, if you lose, you pay him R100,000. If you can't, you become one of his men..."
"Wow, that's so much easier, old man..." Hakuna says sarcastically.
"Your arrogance is only negated by your fighting prowess. It should be easy enough for you. You are doing it for this young lady, aren't you?" The man pokes at the boy.
Hakuna's eyes glow with an infuriated glare in his face. "I really hate doing something unnecessary, and you've unnecessarily involved my Megami into this..." he says.
Nolitha quickly grabs Hakuna, calming him down immediately. "You better be right about this..." he voices.
Hakuna uses the directions given to him by the street vendor and walks with Nolitha. However, something confused Nolitha. She then speaks, "You called me your "Megami", what does that mean?"
"Well, it's kind of corny. It's Japanese for Goddess..." the prince explains.
Nolitha is astounded, "How do you call someone like me a goddess?"
Hakuna then deliberates, "Well, you're smaller than any normal girl..."
"Hey!" The girl snaps comically.
Hakuna carries on, "Your beauty gives you a delicate look, almost as if you can't even lift a finger to save yourself..."
"Aww... wait, what?" Nolitha recoils at the seemingly backhanded compliment.
Hakuna then concludes, "However, you can obliterate a Level 5 demon with a swing of your arm. If that doesn't say Goddess, then I don't know what's wrong with the world..."
Nolitha giggles. Hakuna senses a powerful energy. Nolitha is also troubled. As they make their next turn, a man seems to be yelling out his product, "GET YOURSELF A CHANCE TO WIN A BOUQUET OF BLACK HELLFIRE ROSES FOR FREE!!"
"Well, this is the place. Stay here; I should be done quickly, and don't dump me if I lose..." Hakuna says.
"Ha-ha, we'll see..." the princess replies.
Hakuna walks towards the man named Stherra and his men. "YOU, YOU'RE JUST A KID, WHY WOULD YOU BRING YOURSELF TO TRY THIS...?" Stherra shouts.
"Well, I'm doing this for my girlfriend over there..." the prince says, pointing to Nolitha.
Stherra then warns, "Kid, it's not worth it, you're young, you can find another AAAHHH!" Before Stherra could even finish, Nolitha gave him the Death Stare.
One of Stherra's men, Amos, sees something different about Hakuna. "Hey, boss, let me fight him..." he says.
Stherra reprimands, "Hey now, you do realize that he's just a kid..."
"That ain't no normal kid, that kid is a Milnerian, and he's part of their Demon Demolition Force..." Amos says.
"Ohh, I'LL LET YOU FIGHT, KID..." he announces. He then whispers to Amos, "Don't mess him up too bad, I want him working for me..."
"Got it..." the man replies.
Amos steps into the circle. Hakuna does the same. He then takes off his jacket, and Nolitha takes it. The crowd is confused. What is a kid doing here? How will he survive this? Amos and Hakuna get into their fighting stances, respectively. Stherra then yells out, "I only have one rule, NO RULES, FIGHT!"
"I'm gonna enjoy beating the crap out of a Milnerian..." Amos declares.
Hakuna moves quickly and lands a blow into Amos' stomach. "I'm not a Milnerian. I only got into their school last year..." the boy says.
Oh, right, we forgot to tell you, it's 2020 now, and Hakuna passed Grade 10, smart kid. He's gonna be turning 16 this year. This is, nope, not gonna spoil things. Ohh, and the boy gets a height bump now, sweet. Now he's almost the tallest one in the family. Anyway, carry on...
Amos then speaks, "You're strong, kid, but what you say makes no difference. You're still a Milnerian to me..."
"Whatever, I'm still gonna win, so it means nothing to me..." Hakuna states confidently.
Amos throws a punch, but Hakuna is already in midair. He kicks Amos in the face and throws him back, not by much. He then thinks to himself, "How did he do that? He just..."
Hakuna lands a powerful punch on Amos' face. "You're fast, that's annoying..." Amos says.
Hakuna then replies, "I already know I'm stronger than you, but that doesn't mean I'm going easy on you, not even close..."
"This kid has no idea..." Amos thinks to himself confidently. Amos flares his energy, displaying his full power.
"Well, that's underwhelming..." the boy states.
"You're gonna see what makes you inferior to me..." Amos declares.
"What, the fact that you have a beard and I don't? I'm not even 16 yet, simpleton, and that's just a pitiful display of power, let me show you..." the boy says.
Hakuna's eyes glow as he releases a violent aura. Everyone feels miniature to the tower of power that is a 15-year-old boy with the name Hakuna. Hakuna moves quick towards Amos and delivers the final blow, ending the match immediately.
Hakuna's energy subsides. "I'll be taking that now..." he says. Hakuna takes the bouquet of Black Hellfire Roses to Nolitha. She gives him his jacket and a kiss on the cheek.
"All I get is a kiss on the cheek?" He complains.
DEATH STARE
Hakuna chuckles nervously, "I definitely would've taken less, haha..."
They both walk away, leaving everyone shocked. "Despite you being late, I can actually say I enjoyed this date. I got a nickname and Black Hellfire Roses from it..." Nolitha recounts the day.
"And I got a kiss on the cheek..." the prince replies, a slight sadness in his voice.
Psycha chimes in, "We get it, you get kissed a lot, now shut up, I'm trying to sleep..."
How does she sleep?
Weird, anyway...
Fade out...
End of Episode 18...