↳ grump ↰:

^{A boijou of gratification bubbled when obeyed, his
form already twisting to aid in the process of parting
ways.  Until, notwithstanding having seen him almost
leave, the boy piked up with an obstinate demeanor.}

               ^{《 Did I ever stop you ?  I do not have
                 the plague.  Or are you too scared to
             walk next to little me ?  》}

↳ ❂ ↰  In a way, yes, the teen was scared to walk next to him, but it wasn’t anything the other did or said. “I mean, the sidewalk’s pretty narrow, so I didn’t want to bump into you by accident. I’m sure that’d be annoying.” Plus the guy wasn’t exactly little as he said, but Kaeto would just write that off as a figure of speech. No need to debate minor details.