That next week, Monika rushed through everyone while Tridon walked normally with the others. Monika searched through the papers of results to see where she landed.
"Wow." Erica stood surprised and said, "She must really want that date with you."
"It's just one date." Tridon added, "I don't see why she's so worked up."
"She's also held that number 1 spot for the last 3 years." Sayori explained, "The reason she's living alone is because she's maintained that top spot for so long."
"So what happens if she loses it?" Tridon questioned.
"Beats me." Sayori responded.
"Maybe she loses the privilege of living alone." Natsuki added, "That's what would usually happen."
"She's right. She might be forced to move back in with her parents if she loses that top spot."
"Yikes." Tridon crossed his arms and shook his head, "Well, we don't have to worry about that. I barely tried and I guarantee you that I'm still number 2."
"No!" Monika yelled. Everyone ran over to her and she stared at her finger on one of the sheets, "This can't be..."
"Monika, what's up?" Tridon looked at where her finger was and his eyes widened, "No way..."
"What?" Sayori walked over and noticed what they were staring at. She slowly said, "You dropped from number 1 to number 118."
"T-That's not possible." Monika mumbled, "I studied day in and day out to make sure I was still number one. How did I drop that far."
"Hey." Natsuki started, "I'm number 86." Everyone turned to her and she laughed nervously, "Sorry..."
"How did you drop so far?" Tridon asked.
"I don't know..." Monika responded.
"Damn." Tridon noticed Monika nearing a breakdown. He slowly placed his arm around her and soothed her, "Just calm down and take some deep breaths."
"What am I gonna do? How do I drop from number 1 to number 118 from one mid-term test?"
"No clue." Tridon responded.
"What will your parents do?" Yuri asked, "Will they make you move back in with them?"
"Yeah."
"So what'll happen to me?" Erica asked, "I live with you."
"If that happens," Yuri started, "you can start living with me."
"Okay..."
"Guys," Sayori called out, "look who has the number one spot now." Sayori pointed to a name and it was Tridon, "Tridon, you're number 1."
"Oh..."
"Well," Monika announced in a defeated tone, "since I lost the bet, I have to do what you wanted me to do."
"No." Tridon shook his head and said, "I don't want it to be that way. I know it was something that we all could've done, but something is fishy about this." Tridon turned away and said, "I need to make a phone call. I'll see you girls at the club meeting later."
Tridon walked off towards the boys bathroom and stared into the mirror when he walked in. He shook his head and proceeded to wash his face. He looked up to see Robert standing behind him.
"Ha." Tridon shook his head and laughed, "Whatever dude." Tridon turned around and saw nobody. He chuckled and took out his phone, "Gotta call Tiff about this..." Tridon took out his phone and started to call Tiffany. He waited for a moment and she answered, "Yo Tiff..."
"What's wrong?"
"Something is a little off."
"How so?"
"Well," Tridon paced around the room while explaining, "our class placements were released today and Monika dropped."
"What's off about that? A little drop doesn't hurt anyone."
"No. She dropped from number 1 to number 118. That big of a drop isn't possible."
"Oh." Tiffany fell silent for a second before saying, "I think Robert might have a hand in it."
"He does have influence on the entire county. But he only knows me. He doesn't know Monika and the others, right?"
"I'm not sure. I'll keep my ears to the street and I'll tell you what I find."
"Alright. Thanks Tiff." Tridon hung up and sighed, "Gotta just keep going normally."
Later that day, Tridon sat with Monika who was still shaken up by her big drop in the class. He looked over to the other girls who urged him to talk to her.
"Monika, it'll be fine."
"No it won't Tridon. I can't get back over 100 before the year ends."
"That's what you think." Tridon slammed his hand on her desk and stood up, "I can help you study and see what caused you to drop. I helped those 3 and I know for sure I can help you."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course." He looked at everyone and said, "We'll all support you. You're still our president. You're still our friend. Right?"
"Without doubt." Sayori agreed, "We're all here for you Monika. Through thick and thin."
"Thank you everyone." Monika sighed in relief and stood up, "Right. I shouldn't let that mess with me. We have to continue with our club!"
"Great!" Natsuki exclaimed, "I think we should think about the festival. Maybe we could do something for it?"
"Sorry," Tridon interrupted, "I don't think I'll exactly be available for most of the festival."
"What do you mean?" Yuri asked, "What are you doing?"
"Well, I promised Mitchell that I'll participate in his club's activity. I'm free today, but tomorrow and Wednesday, I won't."
"Well," Natsuki and Sayori sat Tridon down while Monika handed him a packet of paper and saying, "we have a scenario here Tridon."
"Right. We have a Noire like story. I can dig it." Tridon snapped his fingers and the club were teleported to a world where their filter was black and white. They wore trench coats of some sort with fedoras, "And we have our scenario."
"Ah man." Erica stretched and smiled, "Apart from this past weekend, I haven't done this in a long time."
"Well, we have our story." Sayori commented, "What's our case?"
"Alright," Tridon put on a heavy-boston accent and tipped his fedora before putting his hands in his pockets, "we have a murder case here. Female. 27 years old and was shot 3 times. Twice in the chest and once in the head. Rather quick and painless."
"Why the accent?" Yuri questioned, "There's no way that's realistic."
"Don't ruin my fun Yuri." Tridon pleaded, "We just need to follow the story that leads us..."
"To a bar down the street here." Natsuki finished, "Will people believe we're 21?"
"All we gotta do is flash our badge, right?" Erica responded, "I'm sure it'll be fine if we just flash it right?"
"If I remember correctly," Tridon started, "we aren't actually detectives. We're doing this from our own volition."
"Then how do we get into a bar?" Yuri asked.
"Monika," Sayori started, "what do we do?"
"Well, in the story, one of us convinces the initial bouncer to let us in." Everyone turned to Tridon who sighed, "Please?"
"Alright." Tridon agreed, "Let's go."
They approached the bar and they noticed that they were being watched. This made them a little uncomfortable. Tridon shook his head and signaled the girls to remain close to him.
"Just ease up girls." Tridon started, "Remember, nothing really bad happens in this story. The most I remember from reading is that we have one minor shootout. Then we catch the perp after a car chase."
"That's pretty much it." Monika confirmed, "I wanted to make sure nobody would get hurt. Especially a certain friend of ours."
"Who? Sayori?" Tridon asked earning him a suplex from Sayori, "Guah!"
"Oh," Sayori chirped, "that's a new sound."
"Gotta keep it interesting." Tridon groaned.
"Come on." Yuri helped Tridon up and sighed, "Let's hurry up and do whatever we need to do."
When they approached the bar, the bouncer instantly stopped them, "Sorry. You're not authorized to enter."
"Oh we're plenty authorized." Tridon snapped his fingers and the bouncer disappeared, "That was easy."
"Because you used your power." The girls all say in unison.
"Right, but we can go in." The girls all sighed and walked past him. Monika stopped next to him and pinched his cheeks lightly, "Haha..."
They took a look inside and noticed that it was a typical bar around the age this story is taking place. Tridon looked to the side and saw a toothpick dispenser. He took one and put it in his mouth.
"So what do we do?" Natsuki questioned, "Split up?"
"Yeah." Tridon agreed, "Monika and I will go check the left side of the of bar. Natuski and Yuri, you two check the right side. Sayori, Erica, you girls check around the center. We'll meet back together at the bar tender area." Everyone nodded and split up.
Tridon and Monika looked around their area and didn't see any suspicious people. Tridon tapped his chin while looking around.
"What kinda person would we looked for?" Tridon questioned. He took out Monika's story from his pocket and read it over, "With us being spread out, we'll be able to easily ask the people you identified in the story."
"On our side," Monika began, "we should have a man wearing trench coat like yours and glasses."
"Over there." Tridon pointed towards the corner of the bar and there indeed was a man with glasses along with a trench coat next to him, "Who's gonna do the talking?"
"I'll do it." Monika answered, "Just back me up in case he gets hostile."
"Gotcha'."
Monika and Tridon confronted the man who looked up at them and sighed, "Is there a problem?"
"We have answers and we want some questions." Tridon slammed his fist on the table causing Monika to pinch his cheeks, "Ow..."
"I'm so sorry, but geez you can be stupid sometimes." Monika looked at the man and said, "We're here needing some information on a certain individual."
"You won't be getting anything from me." The man responded, "I'm just here trying to get a drink before heading home."
Tridon overlooked the man and held up his hand to Monika, "Are you really going home from work or are you really here for something else?" Tridon looked at the other side of the booth and smirked, "You're here waiting for a certain someone aren't you?"
"Tridon..." Monika tried to say something, but Tridon stopped her.
"It's not a woman..." Tridon stared at the gun on the man's waist and smirked, "Listen, there's just too many people around here to do anything rash. Just tell what you can tell us."
The man looked up at Tridon who stood just a few inches away from the man. He shook his head and said, "The man you're looking for does control this side of town. That's all I'm authorized to tell you."
Tridon nodded and walked off, "We got the information we needed."
"But Tridon..." Monika followed after Tridon who made his way to the bar.
Meanwhile, Yuri looked around at each patron and sighed in frustration, "I don't know what we need to look for. I didn't get to read Monika's story, so I don't know how to progress."
"Well, the perp we're looking for is a mob boss." Natsuki answered, "If we can find some of his henchmen looming around this place."
"Did her story ever talk about what they looked like?"
"Not necessarily." Natsuki noticed a group of men drinking at a nearby table, "Those men over there." She discreetly pointed at them and said, "They have guns underneath their jackets. They're a group of his men."
"We can't just walk up to them and ask. I'm not stupid. If we do that, that would end badly for us."
"Get your mind out of the gutter Yuri." Natsuki turned around and made her way to the bar, "We know something at least."
Sayori walked around while Erica watched her go from table to table asking people the same question.
"Have you killed anyone recently?"
"Sayori," Erica started, "I don't think anyone would openly answer whether or not they've killed someone."
"It's all I can do."
"Hm." Erica shook her head and looked at certain patrons, "I'm sure the others have noticed this, but this place is owned by some mob boss. Maybe..."
"Save it for the group." Sayori interrupted while pointing to the others who were now sitting at the bar, "They work fast and I think you have it all figured it out."
"Right."
Once the group gathered at the bar, each of them broke down what they learned from their investigations.
"So it's obvious this whole region we're in is a controlled by some big mob boss." Tridon explained, "But was he the one that personally killed the woman?"
"He has a lot of his people here." Natsuki added, "So this must be a hot spot for him."
"If anything, he might come here soon." Erica commented, "If this is one of his strongholds or something, he might be here at some point."
"That explains who that guy over there is waiting on someone." Monika pointed out, "He's probably not part of his gang, but an ally or something."
Tridon stood up and made his way out of the bar, "I have a plan."
"Huh?"
"Just chill out and follow me girls."
An hour later, Tridon sat in a car across the street with the other girls, "In the story, this is where the chase scene begins." Tridon reached into his pocket and took out a gun, "One of you shoot at his tires when he gets going."
"I'll do it." Sayori quickly answered, "I think I can get a shot or two going."
"Maybe I should do it." Erica interrupted after taking the gun from Sayori, "Tridon has shown me how to shoot a gun."
"Wait." Yuri interrupted, "You told us that you never even told Sayori that you owned a gun. Did you tell Erica?"
"I did." Tridon answered.
"Why not me!" Sayori yelled, "Do you not trust me?"
"It's not that. I just didn't want you to worry about me owning a gun."
"Mmm..." Sayori puffed her cheeks out and sat back with the girls.
"Here he is." Tridon pointed out. A black car drove up to the bar before speeding almost immediately, "Let's go!" Tridon shifted the car and quickly followed the car.
A man leaned out the black car and fired at them. This caused Tridon to swerve around to dodge the bullets.
"Damn it." Tridon shook his head and turned to the back, "You can't get a shot from your seat Erica. Give the gun to Monika."
"Me?!" Monika shockingly asked.
"You're on that window side!" Tridon shouted, "You're on the side he's firing from!"
Erica handed Monika the gun who only stared at it, "I..."
"Just do it Monika. If you don't, we all tumble and get hurt." Just as Tridon said this, the window to their car was shot out and so was Tridon's shoulder, "Aw come on!" Tridon shouted.
"Ah!" Monika panicked and peaked her head out. She fired blindly until the gun was empty, "Oh what am I doing?!"
"I guess we'll just need to do brute force." Tridon shifted into high gear and drove next to the car. Tridon rammed into the car repeatedly while the person shooting at them leaned out again.
Tridon drive close enough to rip the gun from his hands and fired into him, effectively killing him. Tridon drove fast to keep pace with car. He turned to Yuri in the passenger seat and sighed.
"Yuri," He started, "take the wheel."
"Huh?"
"Keep your foot on the gas."
"What are you thinking?!" Sayori yelled, "Are you stupid?!"
"I might just be." Tridon slowly climbed onto the top of the car and shouted, "Keep the car steady!"
"Why does he keep doing this?" Natsuki asked, "He always tries to do something that'll get him hurt."
"Inferiority complex." Erica answered, "For much of his life, despite being gifted in everything he does, he feel inferior to everyone. He'll do aggressive actions like get himself hurt or nearly killed in order to show that he isn't inferior."
"But he boasted about how good he was at football." Monika commented, "Was he just playing it up?"
"I'm not sure. He was a great player. If he said he was great, than he wasn't fibbing. But he always tried to outplay himself in order to not feel inferior to his opponents to his teammates."
"How did I know about this?" Sayori asked herself, "We spend just about everyday with each other. How do you know more about him than me? His own childhood, best friend."
"He doesn't want to worry you. He knows that you'll add more to his plate and he doesn't want that. He wants to keep having fun and have a normal relationship with you. He doesn't want to burden anyone."
"But..."
They felt the car shake a little when Tridon leaped onto the other car.
"Tridon!" The girls yell.
Tridon stumbled slightly before regaining his balance. He inched his way towards the driver-side window before punching it out. A gunshot flew past him causing him to move back to the roof. The mob boss peaked his hand over and continuously shot at Tridon who rolled past every bullet.
"What do we do?" Natsuki asked, "There's no way he can cause him to spin out on his own." Natsuki thought for a second and told Yuri, "Yuri, ram into those rear wheels!"
"But I can't. He's still on top of the car."
"A small price to pay. It's better than him getting killed. Just do it!"
"Right..." Yuri looked at the rear wheels of the and immediately rammed into them. Tridon lost his balance and fell off the passenger side. He narrowly grabbed onto the edge while holding his legs in the air, "Uh oh..."
The mob boss aimed at him and fired at him. Tridon shifted to the hood while the man fired at him. The window broke from the man shooting it and Tridon was able to kick him just as Yuri rammed him again.
The mob boss lost control enough to spin out. Tridon kept his balance while looking at his car. He ran across the hood while it started spinning. He leaped off the car and landed right on top of their car.
Everyone looked at the car spin and flip over. It flipped several times before settling on the ground. Tridon sighed in relief as he peaked his head through the windshield.
"That was a close one." He slyly commented, "But we got'em."
"Are you okay?" Monika asked, "Your shoulder."
"I'm fine. I don't feel it."
Yuri stopped the car just in front of the wrecked car. Everyone got out and Tridon hopped off the car. Everyone slowly made their way to the car while the man crawled out of it with blood protruding from his head.
"Oh no..." Monika mumbled, "Not this part..."
"What part?" Sayori silently asked.
The man quickly stood up and aimed his gun at them. He shot just as fast as he stood up and the bullet flew towards Monika.
"No!" Tridon yelled. He shielded Monika and was shot in the back. Tridon winced and took out a smaller gun from inside his coat. He shot 3 times with each shot hitting the mob bosses's head. Tridon smirked and took off his trench coat. He unbuttoned his vest and dress shirt to reveal a bulletproof vest underneath it, "I've learned from my mistakes."
"Whew..." Sayori sighed in relief before slugging Tridon in his arm, "Stop raising our heart rate when you do stuff like that."
"I'm sorry my best, childhood friend."
"Haha..." Sayori hugged him and pinched him lightly, "I'm just glad you're fine."
"I've learned from the last few times I got hurt." Everyone heard sirens in the distance causing Tridon to chuckle, "That's our cue." Tridon snapped and everyone was now back at school.
"That was fun." Natsuki said while stretching, "It's good to do one of these adventures again."
"Definitely." Yuri added, "But I think it's time we finally head home. We have the school festival starting Wednesday. I heard Tridon will be participating in the Pro-Wrestling club's event Wednesday."
"Yup. Gonna make my wrestling debut against Mitchell. I can't wait for all of you to see it."
"I can't wait!" Sayori shouted while jumping on Tridon's back, "You've been training at that wrestling school since sophomore year. I can't wait to see what kinda moves you can do."
"Haha..." Tridon laughed for a second before noticing Monika hadn't said anything since he took the bullet for her, "Hey girls, let me talk to Monika for a second. We'll see all of you at the entrance gate."
"Alright. Don't be too long." Erica said while everyone waved them off.
Tridon looked at Monika who avoided his gaze, "You really should've expected me to take that bullet and to jump on that other car."
"Well, I thought this would be a normal adventure. Just a normal noire-style adventure, but it nearly killed you again."
"Aw come on." Tridon hugged Monika who didn't return his embrace, "You know an adventure isn't dull or normal when it's all of us and I love it." He booped Monika's nose causing her to look at him, "And I'm glad it's with all of you. I love the time we all spend together."
"But Tridon."
"No." Tridon inched close to Monika and smirked, "I love this and I don't want you looking like a sour grape because of some stupid scenario." The two locked eyes with Tridon holding the same smirk, "Also, I think you're the only who hasn't gotten one of these." Tridon gave Monika a small peck on her cheek and winked, "Now you've gotten your kiss with me."
"I-I..."
"Now come on. Let's head on home.
Tridon walked off while Monika held the cheek Tridon kissed. Her eyes glistened as a bright smile rose on her face. Monika quietly squealed while catching up to Tridon.
And now begins the festival arc...
A/N: Monika has finally gotten that kiss she has been waiting oh so long for! Now we finally move onto the school festival. It gets interesting here and we'll have some new characters introduced after it along with some romance. Get ready and strap yourselves in for a ride! Also, this story has reached 2000 reads. It hit 2000 reads last week, but I'm slow on stuff like this. But hey, 2000 reads is awesome. I'm glad people are finding the time to read this story. Even if it's just for the first few chapters, I'm happy they're at least giving it a try. Anyway, I have college work to do, so I'll see all of you in the next chapter!
