A smile. It was small, but it was a smile. A smile Hayato returns, as he just seem to desperately grasp at any sort of positive feedback from Ryuutaro. He needed it. Anything he could get. He wanted to reach forward to take Ryuutaro's hands in his own, to borrow as much strength from the boy as he could.

...but then Ryuutaro would feel how his hands were trembling. He would know how afraid all of this made him. He couldn't show his fear and weakness. Ryuutaro needed him to be strong. The Vongola needed him to be strong.

"Yeah! When we get home, I can show you around Namimori, and we can go out for dinner! I'll have to go to school again... but I skip most of the time anyway, so I won't be gone too much! A-and my apartment, I'll have to fix it up some, but it's not so bad! It will be fun! And we'll be okay!"

So please just smile for him just a bit more... he'll do whatever it takes...