There's a hesitation, because he doesn't know Ryo, not really, and even with all his kindness, trust has never come easily for Essek. And through all his hurting, all his grief, he finds it difficult to not be wary.

Eventually though, he takes a shaky breath and nods.

If he's already dead, what does it matter if he's a friend from home. Someone he lost, a home he lost, all the other friends and people he cares for there also lost. They're all- He shakes his head and starts to take measured breaths, trying to keep his mind in the now, to keep the hope that maybe there's still someone, not everything was taken from him so absolutely.

"I-..." he furrows his brows in frustration, the thought escapes him, vanishing into the fog and he just shakes his head and gives up on it. He's too exhausted to chase it.