Fai realizes a moment too late that maybe it'll hurt to hear him use those words again, and almost bites his own tongue. But... well, the thing was, to his mind that's still who Toushirou is. There had never been any time for him to stop, because he and so many others had just simply disappeared from the world. And just because you're actually an adult now doesn't mean you're actually any better at knowing how you're supposed to deal with someone you really used to look up to - at least metaphorically - now being ten years younger than you.

So in his own way, he'd just wanted to show that he still has that respect for him, even now. "It's going to be pretty weird, huh? But at least I'm not technically your responsibility anymore. More like the other way around, actually."