Ryuutaro shook his head slowly, but with a lot of force behind it. He felt himself reaching the point behind anger and sadness where he was just made of determination.

"That's not true."
He spoke just as slowly, just as strongly. Actually Ryuutaro had no idea where he took all this from, because seeing Hayato like this made him feel like breaking down as well. But right now that was not even an option.

"That's just not true. I rather believe in the entire world being wrong than accept these thoughts of yours as reality."
He meant every word of it. All the people of Italy, everyone... Their opinions meant literally nothing to him. Even if he could imagine what Hayato had to have been like back then, he refused to think that he would've hated him. Surely, that would've been the realistic option, but it wasn't as easy as that. This was fate.
Maybe all the cruel things they had gone to were fate as well, but that was worthless in comparison.
Hayato belonged with Ryuutaro and as it was now, Ryuutaro believed in him.