In vertical writing, what do these signs (that look like backticks) mean?


This is an extract from 窓ぎわのトットちゃん。

The teacher is talking about how Totto-chan ended up drawing a ふさ around her
rendition of the flag of Japan. She is presumably quite astonished at this and
my only guess is that these signs are used to express that astonishment? Not
sure.

[![ふさ
backticks](https://i.stack.imgur.com/tdCzR.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/tdCzR.png)

