[ The man recognizes a reassurance when he sees one. Something about it feels a little shameful, that Robby is the one reassuring him when it should be the other way around, when Daniel is the adult here, the sensei, even without karate involved.

But the shame doesn't come without a nice side to it too. Daniel has always thrived on the words of others, ever since he was young, and something about this feels vaguely familiar. Even if things shifted between the two of them, it's not entirely dissimilar to the effect Robby's smile had on him even a summer ago. When starting up the dojo seemed so hard, and felt like it came with more setbacks than steps ahead-- but something about seeing Robby's smile, a hopeful edge of that reflected in Robby's face even now, makes it feel so hard to give up. To slide back to his state from before he met the boy again here.

So even though Daniel isn't so sure if the truth behind those words, he feels touched by them all the same, making his smile a little bit wider as he actually starts eating again, chewing and swallowing pasta between sentences. ]

I guess all we can hope for is to find a way out of here soon, huh?

[ So they can go back and make sure their families are alright. Daniel knows he's not the only one worried - knows that Robby must at least have thought about his mom, maybe even about Johnny, if the two of them really made up. ]

Though over a month without any signs of what could be doing on here or being told why we're even here is a little concerning.