“What? Miko asked you about me?”

Bloom asked Nico. They were in Bloom’s office inside the Silver Nest.

“Yeah. He visited the Usurpers’ HQ earlier this morning and casually asked me what I thought about you. He specifically stated that he wasn’t interested in your weaknesses or your past. He seemed interested in the current you more than anything.”

“That’s strange. Kaido said Miko asked Hana and him the same thing.”

“Could he be planning something?”

“….According to Kaido, he seemed like he wanted to confirm something about me….Other than that he doesn’t seem hostile.”

“Then, do you want us to ignore him?”

Bloom didn’t answer immediately. Instead she recalled something Jin said.

“I think you’re falling in love with Miko.”

(If What he said was true could it be that my feelings are getting in the way of me making logical decisions? Would I tell jin to ignore someone like Miko in the past?)

She pondered for a bit before looking at Nico.

“What do you think I should do?”

“……”

“What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s just that it’s the first I’ve seen you ask someone for their opinion on what to do next. Normally, you’d have everything figured out.”

(….Crap. Worrying about my feelings influencing me is causing me to lose confidence in myself. If I lose my confidence then my subordinates will be troubled and start to worry. However, I don’t want to be rash and end up unnecessarily upsetting Miko….)

Bloom started to feel like she’s going to have a headache.

(Calm down. I’m starting to overcomplicate things. I can’t show weakness in front of someone like Nico.)

She looked at Nico and as she expected, he was staring at her with a pair of fierce eyes. It was as if he was observing Bloom’s every move. After a few seconds, he closed his eyes and slowly breathed in and out.

“If you’re having trouble with him, why not let us of Silver Crow handle it? We can even banish him from this country if you like.”

“No!”

Nico was taken aback by Bloom suddenly shouting. Realizing what she did, she coughed to clear the tension.

“Don’t be rash. If you start antagonizing him there’s no telling what he’ll do.”

“….I understand. Then what is your decision?”

“Leave him be. As long as we have no proof that he’s planning some devious, don’t act on your own.”

“As you wish.”

Nico bowed and then left Bloom’s office. Bloom slouched in her chair and let out a sigh.

“This is why I can’t show weakness. Silver Crow are my strongest subordinates but they are too loyal. They won’t hesitate to do anything that they believe will make me happy. Even eliminating all source of my distress.”

She clenched her fists tightly.

“I can’t be weak. I must be strong at all times. I must be worthy of their admiration and loyalty.”

“What do you think is the leading cause for when a genius suddenly crash and burns?”

“What?”

Momo looked at Miko with a confused look.

“Why the sudden question?”

“Falling from grace is a popular trope in literature. It’s also pretty popular in manga. However, the way it’s portrayed doesn’t feel accurate to me; so I’m asking for your opinion.”

“You ask some really random questions sometime…But whatever.”

Momo began to seriously think about Miko’s question.

(Miko doesn’t ask random questions…I know this. There must be a reason for asking this. It might be something he’s struggling with so I got to be serious.)

She took a deep breath before answering.

“To me, the answer would be arrogance. Geniuses are normally showered with praises for most of their lives; they also find it easy to accomplish what others would struggle to do. These two things leads to them becoming complacent and arrogant. They gain the mindset that everything will go as they like so they don’t bother to work hard. So when they finally come face to face with an unbreakable wall they lack the will and tenacity to push their way through. They’ll eventually despair and self-destruct. That’s the curse of being a genius.”

“Hmm…”

Miko pondered Momo’s answer with a smile and nodded.

“That’s a pretty good answer. I think you’re on to something.”

“….But it isn’t the answer you were looking for, was it?”

Miko shook his head.

“Then what do you think is the leading cause?”

Miko grinned.

“Overwhelming expectations.”

“What?”

“You don’t believe me? Think about it for a bit. A genius is showered with praises as you said but they are the subject of everyone’s expectations. They are excepted to be extraordinary, a cut above the rest. Being normal will only be seen as disappointing, they must strive for and achieve greatness; if they don’t….”

Miko smirked.

“They’ll be kicked into the abyss by the same people who were showering them with cheers. A lot of geniuses realize this and start pushing themselves to prevent such a fate. They keep pushing and pushing, ignoring their pain and suffering just to live up to expectations. This ultimately leads to their demise.”

“….Where are you going with this?”

“I’m merely saying that geniuses or those in powerful positions are treated inhumanly by their surroundings and themselves. People will cheer for the underdog and call for the fall of a genius; completely ignoring the effort the genius puts in to keep their status. It’s cruel but true. No one cares about the suffering of a king, leader, or even a god. They’re strong, so they’ll be fine; that’s the general consensus. It’s things like this that cause many geniuses to commit suicide or runaway from reality. Do you understand now, Momo?”

All expression disappeared from Miko’s face as he spoke with a flat tone.

“True happiness lays in being ordinary. Being a genius is the same as being cursed.”

Momo looked at Miko in silence.

(Is he referring to himself or could it be someone else?)

After a while Miko finally smiled again.

“But your answer was really interesting Momo. After second thought, it might be the right one and I’m the one who’s misguided.”

“….Yeah.”

That was all Momo could say when faced with his smile.

Elon City, Newgate Country. In this technological powerhouse of a city, a certain meeting was being held at Chromatic Industries, the aircraft manufacturers.

“Bloom looked troubled?”

The one who asked was Chrome. The meeting was being conducted by the members of Silver Crow minus Jin and Sapphire.

“Yes. It seems that she didn’t know how to handle Miko. She even got flustered when I offered for us to remove him from the city.”

Nico explained.

“Removing someone as dangerous as Miko is a logical move. However, Miko is still technically an ,ally so I understand why she’s troubled.”

Axel, the man who was dress in full black, gave his opinion.

“You guys can say that because you’ve never met Miko before. I’ve tailed him for some time before the Boss took over, and I’ve spoken with him twice. He has an eerie feeling of death surrounding him. He’s not someone I can trust.”

“Doesn’t the fact that he’s snooping around Bloom proves that he’s planning something?”

“For the first time in a while, you’ve spoken something with sense, Ryker.”

Nico said.

“So what? Do you want us to go against orders and act?”

Axel asked Nico.

“If that’s what you’re saying, then I’m against it.”

“Give me some credit, Axel. Your little brother isn’t that stupid. If we were to go against orders then Jin would punish us.”

“Then what do you propose?”

Nico didn’t answer Axel and looked at Chrome.

“What do you think of all this Chrome? You’re the first to join Silver Crow out of all of us here, so you know Bloom and Jin the best.”

Chrome didn’t answer immediately she just sat in silence and stared into space. After nearly five minutes she finally opened her mouth to speak.

“…I was born into a prestigious family of engineers in this very city. From a very young age people had given me the title of Genius. I was isolated from my siblings and anyone in my age group? and was forced to study things that even adults would find difficult.”

“……..”

The others listened to her narration in silence.

“As long as I could remember, I was told that I had to bring honor and glory to my family; so it was natural that I would try my best to live up to the expectations of those around me. However, the human heart can only handle so much stress.”

She had a blank look on her face as she spoke.

“At age of 10, I tried to commit suicide for the first time. I did it by slitting my wrist and allow myself to bleed out in my bath. Unsurprisingly, I failed. My mother found me and brought me to the hospital….I remember the angry faces and shouts of my parents. They couldn’t understand why I would do something so stupid….I simply wanted to escape from the pressure but I knew that they wouldn’t understand, so I didn’t tell them….After all, the weak can’t understand the struggles of the strong….Ironic, isn’t it?”

She let out a low and self-mocking laugh.

“Anyway, despite my cry for help I was still forced to continue my mundane life and naturally my suicide attempts continued as well. Hanging, poisoning, inhaling toxic fumes, I tried them all but I just couldn’t die. What made it worse my parents treated it as a phase and did everything they could to cover up the fact that their genius daughter was suicidal. They were horrible people. It was when my life was at its lowest that I met her. She’s the one who took me away from my distorted reality and gave me a new slate. For me, Bloom Newgate is the only god in this world.”

Chrome’s eyes became sharp like a blade.

“I have only one rule. Anyone that threatens my god will be eradicated from this world.”

“Then you’re with attacking Miko?”

Axel asked.

“No. There isn’t any evidence that he’s a threat to Bloom. However, it doesn’t hurt to make preparations in case.”

“You’re surprisingly cool-headed about this.”

“I must be. After all, I value Bloom’s happiness above everything else.”

“I see. Then we’ll do as you suggested and make preparations just to be safe.”

Chrome nodded and started thinking to herself.

(Miko is showing excessive interest in Bloom…I heard that they’ve been spending a lot of time together as of late…Could it be that he’s in love with her?)

An unpleasant feeling started developing in Chrome’s heart. She shook her head as if to get rid of her thoughts.

“For ,now I will carry out the mission given to me. Everything else is just a distraction.”

She mumbled but her fingernails were digging into her skin until the point where she was starting to bleed.

At the same time, Miko was inside Elon City with Edward at his side. The two were sitting inside a café with headphones over their heads.

“How’s that?”

“I must say, you are indeed impressive, Edward. Thanks to you I was able to hear the contents of their meeting with less effort than I expected.”

Miko took off his headphones and was all smiles.

“I knew that Nico would report it to Bloom if I suddenly showed up and asked him about her. Since the relationship between us is good Bloom will tell him to ignore it. However, being loyal to her he would never ignore a potential threat; and as I hoped, he made contact with the rest of Silver Crow to discuss it.”

“And now we’ve gotten the identities of all the core members of Silver Crow thanks to the video feeds in surrounding areas and vocal recognition software I have on this computer.”

Edward showed Miko a monitor with the names and faces of Chrome and others.

“These are some big shots in this country too.”

Edward laughed.

“By the way, this is Tommy Akabe’s territory. Are you sure that we were able to come in here undetected?”

“Don’t worry, Don. It won’t be easy for that bastard to ever find me no matter where I go.”

“I see. Then I’ll take your word for it.”

Edward nodded.

“So what now? We have their identities and we know that they don’t trust you…What’s your next move?”

Miko smiled and placed a finger on his lips.

“We’ll just have to wait and see, now don’t we?”

A few days later, Miko was at an airport in the capital. With him was Momo and the girls. He had a smile on his face while he watched one of the planes landed and calmly waited for it to open its doors. He didn’t wait long as the door opened and he saw a familiar face step out.

“So this is the Newgate Country?”

Luka said while looking around.

“Where’s Miko? Can you see him?”

Hina forced her way out and started looking around.

“I’m right here.”

“Ah!”

Her face brightened up when she saw Miko walking towards their plane. She leaped out of the plane and latch herself onto him.

“Miko! I’ve missed you!”

Miko smiled and wrapped one arm around her and looked at Luka.

“You’ve called so I take it that you’ve made your decision?”

Miko nodded.

“I did, but first…”

He spread his arms as he saw his other comrades emerge one after the other.

“Welcome to the Newgate Country. I have many things I wish to show you.”