A boy accused of murder denied he was "grassing up" another boy to "save his own skin".
Connor Dockerty was stabbed four times, including to the heart, during an alleged "revenge" attack in Huyton.
Two teenagers deny the 23-year-old's murder and manslaughter, in the incident in Kingsway on April 19.
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Boy A, 15, admits stabbing him but said he acted in self-defence, after Mr Dockerty came at him with a blade, so he was "fighting for his life".
However, Boy B, 16, has told a trial at Liverpool Crown Court that he didn't see a knife in Mr Dockerty's hands.
Prosecutors allege Boy B "instigated" the incident after being told Mr Dockerty had argued with his girlfriend.
Boy B claims he only went looking for her to check she was okay and had no idea there would be violence.
When cross-examined by Boy A's barrister, Peter Finnigan, QC, the teenager accepted he had been "upset" and "kind of" angry after his girlfriend rang him and said she had been hit by a man, but denied he was "enraged" and said he was "quite calm".
Boy B denied he made Boy A and another teen with them, Boy C, do his "bidding".
He agreed he put his hood up and had a coronavirus mask on, but said this had nothing to do with the phone call he'd received, and denied he wanted the three of them to "check out" Mr Dockerty, as he walked ahead.
Mr Finnigan said: "The others are the followers - you're the leader."
"No," he replied.
Mr Finnigan suggested Boy B had done his best to tell the jury Boy A was "no friend" of his and he "didn't like him in the first place", but Boy B said he didn't say that and he just didn't really know him.
Boy A previously told the jury he heard Boy B's girlfriend had been "pushed into a road, or hit, or threatened to be stabbed" by Mr Dockerty.
Boy B has said all she told him on the phone was she had been hit by a man, and he didn't say anything about this to the other boys.
Mr Finnigan said in Boy B's defence statement, he said he handed his phone to Boy A, so he could speak to his girlfriend, but he didn't hear their conversation.
Boy B said that was a "mistake" and he didn't hand his phone to Boy A.
He agreed his signed statement also said he told Boy A and C what he had been told by his girlfriend.
Mr Finnigan suggested Boy B hadn't made mistakes and was lying, which Boy B denied.
The barrister said: "You've decided to save your own skin here at the expense of Boy A."
"No," Boy B replied.
Mr Finnigan suggested Boy B wasn't panicking after the stabbing, as he told the jury, and in fact "calmly" walked away.
He played CCTV footage of the boys walking down the street and asked Boy B when he started running, as Boy B had claimed. Boy B said he wasn't running at that point.
Asked whether he could exclude the possibility that Mr Dockerty had a knife when Boy A and him first came together, Boy B agreed it was "maybe" possible.
He said his attention was elsewhere at the start of the confrontation and said he didn't see it.
Mr Finnigan suggested to him "you've decided in this case to turn yourself in effect, if you could, into a prosecution witness".
Boy A said: "No, I've described what I've seen."
He agreed he and his dad decided that night to phone Crimestoppers.
Boy B accepted he didn't tell his dad exactly what happened until after they learned that Mr Dockerty was dead.
Mr Finnigan said: "When did you decide you were going to grass Boy A up?"
"Basically that night," Boy B replied, agreeing it was "pretty much" after he heard Mr Dockerty had died.
Mr Finnigan said: "So the man had died and you thought you would put the blame on Boy A?" "No," Boy B said.
The lawyer continued: "That's why you used the expression you were going to grass him up."
Boy B said: "Grassing up doesn't just mean put all the blame on him, it means handing his name in too."
He told the jury that when he went looking for his girlfriend, he didn't have any intentions regarding Mr Dockerty.
Mr Finnigan said in a text conversation after the killing, in the early hours of April 20, Boy B's girlfriend said to him "you didn't do anything wrong, you only wanted to batter him a bit because he went to hit me and he fronted me - anyone else would do the same, he was a grown man".
Mr Finnigan said: "Had you said to her you were angry and you just wanted to batter him a bit?"
"I never said I wanted to batter him", said Boy B.
He agreed that during the confrontation between Boy A and Mr Dockerty he wasn't looking at Mr Dockerty's hands; that he couldn't be sure whether Boy A pulled his knife out from his left pocket, right pocket or manbag; and that he couldn't be sure "who went for who", before he saw Boy A stab him.
Mr Finnigan suggested Mr Dockerty struck out at Boy A before the stabbing, but Boy B said he didn't see this, and that Mr Dockerty didn't strike out at him either - as Boy A told the jury.
He added: "I'm positive he didn't."
Boy B went on to say he only saw about two stab wounds inflicted by Boy A during the incident, when he thought Boy A had his hand on Mr Dockerty's shoulder and Mr Dockerty might have had hold of Boy A's side.
He agreed that night he told his girlfriend: "I will grass him up if I have to, I'm not arsed."
Mr Finnigan said: "Because you thought, didn't you, that that would be your best route to avoid trouble, to blame Boy A for what had happened."
"No, I just thought it was the right thing to do," he said.
* Also on trial is John Batey, 44, of no fixed address, but formerly of Huyton, who denies assisting an offender.
(Proceeding)
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