Seeing the little ball of joy, all of the stress that had been accumulated inside Renji disappeared in an instant. He was overcome by the joy that the little girl was radiating after seeing her brother at that time. As the little girl was going to crash into her brother, he quickly bent over and picked her in his arms. Hana started giggling even more as she got into Renji's arms.
"Here look, what your brother brought for you. It's meat that you love to eat." Said Renji as he swung the bag of meat in front of Hana's eyes.
"YEAHAA!" yelled Hana overjoyed by the surprise that Renji had brought for her. Meat was something that Hana loved the most out of all the food, it may have been because of the nature of the meat or just because she loved eating meat. Anyway, what mattered the most to Renji was that his little sister was happy, seeing her happy made him happier.
"Did you do something dangerous? Where did you get so much money from? Did you perhaps steal the meat?" a voice of concern suddenly came out of the kitchen, although it was coming from a place of love Renji could still feel anger from the weak voice. The voice was of Aiko who was cooking for the family dinner.
"Don't worry Mom I didn't steal anything from anyone, I was told to do some delivery jobs here and there around the slums. I saved up money for many days so that I could buy this meat. You don't have to worry about anything Mom I am not doing anything dangerous." Said Renji in a very reassuring voice as he knew he had to sound convincing so that his mom wouldn't suspect anything.
'Sorry Mom, I know lying and stealing is bad, but until I become a hunter like you and Dad, this seems to be the only way by which I can provide for Hana.' Thought Renji with a heavy heart. Although some people are willing to give work to Renji, those people usually only want extremely cheap labor to save money. Even though they hand out chump change in exchange for Renji's work, he still tries to do every work he can lay his hands no matter the reward.
Even so, for Renji to buy anything like monster meat it would take about 3-4 months of hard work to buy just one piece of cut-off meat. That was the kind of harsh reality of the situation, on the other hand, his sister needs meat every 2 weeks at least. So, stealing was the only viable option for Renji, even so, he wasn't going to tell his mom about the situation he was in because they were already dealing with so much stuff.
"You don't have to worry about meat, okay? Your father and I will come up with a solution soon so don't worry about the meat." Said Aiko in a low voice as it was difficult for her to hold a conversation for long.
While she said this her eyes were filled with tears, but she didn't let a single drop out of her eyes. She knew what she was saying was not something that they could do in their condition, but she also couldn't bear to see her 8-year-old child trying to help them out.
"Don't worry Mom there's nothing to worry about." Renji tried to reassure her once more, but he didn't hear any reply from her anymore.
Aiko didn't say anything after that point because she knew if she spoke up her voice would start to break and Renji would find out she was crying. She didn't want her children to see her cry.
The house was just filled with giggles after that point as Renji went with Hana who was tugging on him. Hana wanted to play with someone, so Renji was the perfect target.
.................
A few hours later, suddenly the door of the house opened and everyone turned towards the door. Hana on the other hand was already off towards the door running and giggling.
"I am home honey." Said a weak voice as Ichiro entered the house. He was a middle-aged man with a skeleton for a body like Aiko, they both seemed like they had been starving for years.
Ichiro was walking with a walking stick in his right hand and although his legs were perfectly fine, walking without support was next to impossible for Ichiro after the incident. He had black hair same as Renji's but his hair lacked luster compared to Renji's.
Hana hugged his legs but all he could do was caress her hair out of love. With his body in this condition, he couldn't even get the strength to pick the little girl up in his arms.
"Welcome back honey, how was work today?" asked Aiko.
"It went well, honey." Replied Ichiro tiredly. Even with the condition of his body, he went to work at a restaurant as a chef a few times a week when the owner called for him. By doing this job he brings some cash to support the family.
"Okay the food is ready everyone, come let's have dinner together." Aiko beckoned everyone to come and eat.
"Yeah, meat meat." Said Hana as she went towards the kitchen jumping with joy.
"You brought meat again today?" asked Ichiro to Renji, in response, he nodded.
-Sigh-
Ichiro just sighed as he knew Renji wouldn't stop working just because he told him to.
"Hana did you thank your brother for the food he brought for you?" asked Aiko in a stern voice.
"Thank you, dada." Said the little girl as she went towards Renji and planted a kiss on his cheeks. Renji was overjoyed after that and he caressed the little girl's head.
...............
Everyone finished their meal, while Ichiro had already gone to bed because of the exhaustion he had accumulated throughout the day. Aiko and Renji were still up cleaning the dishes.
"You should go to sleep too Mom; I can take care of the dishes." Said Renji as he didn't want her to overwork herself. He knew she wasn't healthy enough to do all of this work so he wanted to take over this burden for her.
"No that won't do, I can't sleep just yet I still have to read stories to both of you." Said Aiko with a soft and loving voice.
"But I can read stories for Hana myself, you should just rest." Said Renji trying to convince her once more.
"No buts." Said Aiko sternly.
After that Renji didn't try to convince her anymore as he knew his pleas would just fall on deaf ears. The two of them continued to clean dishes after that and the little one continued to lift their spirits with her laughter and giggles.
..........................
"Ok, Hana let's go to bed its time for stories." Said Aiko playfully trying to entice the little girl with stories.
"Okay, mama." Replied the little girl joyfully.
"Our world was never this dangerous, there used to be a day when we didn't have to worry about the monsters that haunt us now, back then the world was very beautiful. the world as we knew it was ruined by their arrival, we still remember that day as the darkest day in our human history.