My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

Somehow, while I was writing, it turned into something yandere-ish...

If you're not comfortable with that, feel free to skip it.

It's just that love gets deeper in an extreme situation like another world!

Next time when we get lovey-dovey, it'll be normal dere, so don't worry.

I landed in front of Amelia from up in the tree.

Amelia trembled as if frightened.

"A-Akira... where did you hear from?"

I tilted my head and scratched the back of my neck.

"From the beginning, or rather, I was actually here first."

At that, Amelia's face went pale.

It really was just by chance.

After Crow told me the scariest thing was when a hand couldn't reach, I wanted to think quietly by myself, so I went into the forest.

I climbed the tree because it was a place where I personally felt calm, not because I intended to hide, and I was thinking so deeply that I didn't even notice Amelia come directly under this tree—so it wasn't like I deliberately moved to this tree.

Even if I explained that, Amelia's expression wouldn't change.

Her normally pale skin had completely lost color.

I put my hand on top of Amelia's head to reassure her.

"Don't worry. I won't pull away, and I won't forget you."

Sure, Mom and Yui are important, but Amelia is just as important to me.

Amelia's eyes filled with tears and she gripped the cloak I was wearing tightly.

She looked up at me and tilted her head.

"Really? You won't pull away? You won't forget?"

Watching her act so adorably like a puppy almost made me melt, and I nodded.

"Yeah, I promise. ...Honestly, I'm the one who's worried. From appearance, I don't think we're a match. If we're talking looks alone, annoyingly, the hero would be the one who matches you, hands down."

I took out a dagger and placed it in Amelia's hand, which had been frowning.

"I don't like that person. Akira is cooler and stronger. ...What are you doing?"

I gave a bitter smile at that remark.

The hero is weak, but it's unlikely I'm more handsome.

Given how Amelia and I met, you can't deny the suspension bridge effect either.

With my right hand I took hold of the dagger in Amelia's hand from above and moved it toward my left hand.

Amelia recoiled as if frightened.

"I don't know about here, but in Japan there's a custom where couples who pledge their future to each other put a ring on the ring finger of the left hand. Engagement rings or wedding rings, I wasn't really interested in the details, so I don't know much, but anyway a ring goes on the left ring finger."

I pressed the blade into around the third knuckle of the ring finger.

Along with the pain, blood so red it would be noticeable even in the darkness trickled down her hand, along her arm, and dripped to the ground.

"W-What are you doing..."

Without changing my expression, I kept carving a ring into my own finger with Amelia's hand, and Amelia's eyes widened.

Deep. Deep enough so the mark wouldn't fade, but careful not to cut any important tendons.

"...See, it doesn't totally fail to look like a ring."

In the moonlight, a red circle marked the left ring finger all the way around.

"You wanted to leave a mark on me, didn't you?"

With that, the wish was fulfilled.

Looking at Amelia's face, she stared at my finger and the dagger, comparing them intently.

"A ring that men and women put on the left ring finger..."

This time Amelia made me hold the dagger, and without hesitation she cut her own slender white left finger.

"...It's nice to have matching ones."

Carving the same ring into her finger, Amelia held her hand up in the moonlight beside mine.

Maybe because the night had them hyped up, or because she was glad to have a first matching thing, normally I wouldn't have allowed Amelia to hurt herself.

But today, for some reason, it felt very right.

'The thing I'm most afraid of is when this hand can't reach.'

Crow's anguished voice echoed in my head.

Even if I reach out, this hand might not be able to reach.

The Demon Clan is that strong, and if Crow hadn't come then, Amelia might have been taken and we might have died.

Still, with this finger, it somehow feels like we can always stay connected.