Running Man player's fist break time. Everyone was in their rooms for the night. Kuga was working out, diligently. Lonky was testing out the new Massage chair that his royal family sent him. Popo was unboxing a pile of rare magic cards that his tribe sent him. Pala is currently brewing a potion for his experiments. For some reason, Miyo was not in her room, she probably went to eat something. Liu was applying a tracker into Mr. Suitcase. And Yuu was sitting in his room, legs crossed, back straight as he slowly wraps bandages onto his arm. 

"I feel a bit cold... and this runny nose... it doesn't seem to end..." Yuu muttered to himself before a blackout appeared.

The light of the whole building goes out just when everyone was taking a break in their rooms. Liu went out of his room to check what happened with the light, using Mr. Suitcase as a flashlight, he saw a horrifying figure with 8 eyes and 4 heads, tentacles floating around it before rushing towards him. A rush of fear and adrenalin run across Liu's body before running away. Yuu went out of his door to see Liu running in his direction.

"What's wrong Liu?" Yuu asked without a clue

"Yuu Run!" Liu yelled as he ran past him. He looked over to see a huge black figure charging towards him with Mix voices.

"The Heck is that?!" Yuu ran with an incredible speed, catching up with Liu

"What is that?" Liu asked as they run

"Don't know, just Run!" The monster managed to catch up with him and slammed its head towards them, Causing Liu and Yuu to crash on the cloaked Window. Liu managed to press something before the wall behind them was lifted, it turned out that it was just blinding for the window. The soul tree's light shined upon the monster as they gaze over to see what it looked like, only to be angry to see that it was Lonky, Popo, Pala, and Gai, wrapped together with electrical wires from a Machine.

"What's going on?!" Liu asked while he assisted Yuu from getting up.

"Well... it started like this"

                                                               After explaining at the meeting lounge...

"Why am I surprised? Of course, Lonky is at fault again" Yuu complained

"Mhm Agree, this is Lonky's fault!" Popo agreed and so did the others.

"Hey-" Lonky was cut off when an announcer announced something

"Attention! A blackout has occurred due to an electric overload at the dormitory, we are currently working to fix the Issue"

"See it was your fault Lonky! You and that ridiculous piece of a junk massage chair!" Popo said with an angered look, pointing at Lonky

"So I used a lot of electricity, I don't know about you shorty but a massage chair is a necessity for all the giraffe tribe" 

"The heck...? Since when are Massage chairs a necessity? It's just a chair" Yuu commented

"Hey! You are not Royalty so you won't understand!"

Soon they heard the sound of somewhat a piece of furniture falling down

"Wait... where's Kuga?"

Meanwhile, Kuga was ravaging his darkroom, in search of something that seemed important to him. Soon light shined on his room after Liu and the others opened his room. 

"Oh, it's just nothing," Said Popo with a disappointed tone before entering

"Wait, you sounded disappointed with nothing wrong," Liu noticed before Popo turned to face him with a wide smirk

"Oh, you noticed?"

Kuga's POV

Where is it? Where is it?! Where are my gloves? I said to myself as ravaged my room. I was sure I placed it on my bed but it's just too dark! Soon My room was lit up by a small light, it was Liu and the others, Standing in my doorway. Why are they here?! Why now of all time! I can't let them see my hands, I must keep my cool.

"Hey! Who said you guys could just barge in here huh?! Get out!" 

3rd Person's POV

"Wow, would you look at all of this stuff?! Popo said in amazement before giving the rotating combat dummy a quick punch, the dummy turned 360degress to the left and hit Popo on the side of his head, limping towards the bed due to the force before slamming his forehead on the metal side of Kuga's bed. Kuga smiled from the pathetic sight of Popo.

"heh, serves you right. Now get out!" Kuga said with an aggressive tone who was stuck in a push-up position. He looked over towards the others who were now inside except for you who was leaning with his arms crossed around his chest on the doorframe.

"Why haven't you gotten up?" Liu asked while Kuga seemed nervous and speechless

"Do you have a cramp?" Lonky assumed with his usually egotistic smile before he messed with Kuga. Tickling him and fidgeting his cute ears as he grew angrier.

"Get out of here Lonky!" 

"Oh? Why is our champion so eager to get us out of here?" Lonky asked

"Because this is not our room?" Yuu muttered

Soon The Soul Tree glowed brighter than usual that caught the Running Man player's eyes. Kuga looked over at Yuu before placing his Pointer finger on his lips as a gesture to stay quiet. You rolled your eyes before gazing at the Glowing Soul tree while Kuga sneaked slowly on the background towards his bed.

"That doesn't look good, It looks like Mr. Tree is angry again" Liu muttered with an empathetic tone

"What? Is the soul tree your friend?" Lonky asked

"Hey, without my tribe there won't be any, the soul tree, materion, or anything"

"Here he goes again babbling on," said Popo

"I'm getting sleepy" Pala muttered before casually  walking onto Kuga's bed and sitting on top of it

"Hey, would you get off my bed?! Just get out!" Yelled Kuga

"Listen,  I have a story to tell. Once upon a time there live the God of Earth. Back then, the land was barren, neither grass nor trees were seen~"

"Take your darn stories and leave!" Kuga yelled in anger but Liu ignored it like he didn't hear him talk.

"A bug priest was so earnest with his begging that the earth god rooted itself by his passion, and turned itself into a tree, making the land habitable to everyone!" Lonky cut him off 

"No no no! That is not true, that story was just a bunch of crazy lies! I'll tell you the real story!" Lonky said with sheer confidence
"Long time ago... there was a god of all the earth, and it was the sharp divine tongue of the giraffe high priest that convinced the God to become the soul tree" This time, Popo cut him off

"That is not true! don't you know it's wrong to make up stories like that?! It was the keen insight and negotiation strategy of the Peng tribe that made it possible"

"No that isn't right you got it all wrong!" Gai and Pala said as they  told them their version of the Soul tree.

"How about you, Yuu? What's your story?" Liu asked with a curious tone

"Hmm Well... Once upon a time, there lived an earth god. The Earth God gazed upon the inhabitants of the world, mostly the animals who were suffering. With the unpleasant sight of the grassless land and hungry animals, the earth godplanted itself and became the Soul tree, The hidden shifter tribe praised the Earth God for his gifts to this land and the kindness of the animals. Until the high priest of each tribe appeared and said that it was because of them that the Earth God gave its blessing and the soul tree. The shifter tribe told them that no one convinced the Earth god to give his blessings but only by its own divine choice to sacrifice itself to help the inhabitants of the world but they didn't believe what the Hidden tribe said so The hidden tribe was cast away by the other tribe priest and was forced to live in the forest, away from other civilization."

Everyone stared at Yuu in silence after he said that with a cold tone

"Nah that's full of lies, It was because of the giraffe tribe!" You shrugged from Lonky's response

"No, it was because of the Peng tribe!" And just like that, chaos arrived. Everyone strangling each other's necks to prove to them who's story is better.

"Guys stop it! Is this how you represent your tribe in a Running Man competition?!" Liu yelled that angered Popo from what he said

"How dare you! You're not even a tribal champion!" Yuu's eyes widened in shock after hearing what Popo said as the others stopped.

"What do you mean?" Yuu asked with a deep curious tone

"Yup that's right, I heard he came in second place"

"And his champion?" Asked Gai

"I don't know, I heard he died or something" Popo replied

"Yes it's true, I came in second place... and the champion died... and she was my sister" Popo and the others were shocked and filled with guilt after what Liu said. Yuu stared at Liu in silence.

"Well nobody in my tribe could be bothered to compete... I was unlucky enough to be selected I wanted to know more about him" Pala pointed at Kuga who was reaching for something under the bed. He noticed that they were looking at him so he pretended he was doing push-ups but Lonky got suspicious and decided to tease him again

"Why is our champion so helpless today? Do you lack exercise? Should I help you with that?" Lonky quickly got on top of Kuga's back and pushed him back and forth rapidly. Kuga snapped and arise from where he dropped, the sudden force of Kuga caused Lonky to burst through the ceiling. Kuga let his guard down as Popo almost saw what was on his hands, he jumped from alert and covered his hands on his armpits.

"Hey, you got something on your hand Kuga and why are you here for the tournament?" Popo asked

"I came here to win now leave me alone!" Kuga yelled in frustration

"I don't think so... victory is mine!" Said Gai confidently

"You? no way. I'm gonna win it all and become a King~!" Lonky stated 

"Yeah! When your King you can have anything! Jewels! Fame! Money! all in your hands!" Popo said as Lonky agreed!

"You're speaking my language!"

Lonky and Popo high-fived each other after getting along with their endeavors. The light flickered once more before Gai noticed Miyo passing by.

"Hey, Miyo how are things!" Gai said with a cheerful tone before she ignored him. You walked over to Liu before letting out a sigh

"Don't be down on yourself, Your sister would be proud of you for making it this far" Yuu said with a reassuring tone as he placed a  hand on Liu's shoulder

"Thank you Yuu," Liu said with a smile before Yuu walked towards  the door slowly

"Besides... your not the only one who not a champion..." he muttered in silence with a serious look on his eyes

"What was that?" Liu asked

"Oh I said Good luck with Kuga," Yuu said before quickly disappearing. Running out of the room and left them all in confusion.

"good luck with Kuga?" Popo muttered as Kuga stood behind them with his gloves on

"You don't want to get out of my room huh... Well, I'll make sure all of you will never leave!" Kuga yelled as they all screamed in unison. Yuu walked down the hall and saw Miyo walking with her arms crossed looking like she is troubled with something.

"You look troubled," Yuu said as she turned around when she came to a stop

"Oh... Yuu, where are the others?" Miyo asked

"Getting beat by Kuga" Miyo giggled from his response

"Figures... why were you all there anyways?"

"They came to check on Kuga but... it's complicated..." They both continued to walk until they reached a balcony where the view of where the crowds used to sit.

"It's beautiful here... right?" Miyo asked with her eyes on the empty stage as they stood under the moonlit night

"I guess... I don't much see the beauty of things anymore..." 

"That sounds cold. Why did you enter this tournament?"

"Obvious reason, to win the prize. You, on the other hand, you came here for something else, I can tell"

"You're right about that, But I'm not close to succeeding it. Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot it"

"Why do you wear a mask?"

"... Long story short, I am really really ugly, to the point where my tribemates are disgusted"

Miyo gazed over at  Yuu with a stern look before letting out a cute soft smile

"I don't think that's the reason... besides I'm sure you are not ugly Yuu, We just live in a Judgmental society"

"I'm starting to think if you like me or something"

"Hey I like a fellow person who has  many secrets, not in the romantic way of course" They both laughed after Miyo said that, letting out a soft deep sigh before he leaned his back on the railings on the balcony

"Why are you open with me then? You just met me yet you told me you have mind-reading abilities, you treat me like a close friend among the others, and you talk casually to me" Miyo was silent at first before letting out a sigh

"I don't know... The moment I first saw you... I felt like I can tell you anything since you are not that open to others... I was raised to be a spy but I'm still young, I can't bottle the feelings and thoughts I have, I need to share them so I can feel relieved"

"Hmm... Okay, that sounds reasonable, but your cute when you flustered" her cheeks flushed lightly with pink colors before sighing as both of them gazed at the stars.
"Kita no Mottomo Akarui Hoshi..." Yuu muttered that made her confused

"What?"

"Brightest star of the north... I used to believe that whenever I feel lost... I follow its direction to always let me know where I'm going... by where I have been"

"That's a weird belief, everyone here knows that the North star lets you know that the earth god is watching you along with the spirits"

"That's one of the reasons why the people in my tribe are weirded by me... but I think my belief is true... because under that Bright star, is the location of my tribe, I followed it and lead me here to where I am standing right now..."

Miyo took another look at  Yuu from the side as their eyes met, zephyrs blew calmly that made her hair dance across the wind, blowing his hood down in the process and exposed his soft grey hair. Miyo's eyes sparkled by the light of the full moon that caused Yuu to get mesmerized as they kept their silent gaze at each other's eyes.

"Now I see why Gai likes you" Yuu muttered before walking past her and heading towards his room
"Good night Miyo," Said Yuu before disappearing as she stood there in silence with her heart pounding rapidly before letting out a sigh.

"Good night Yuu" she replied before turning around to gaze at the bright north star in front of her
"Kita no Mottomo Akarui Hoshi... huh?" she muttered 

Yuu got back to his bed, removing his jacket and wearing only his short and bandages before sleeping with his body fully covered in bandages

"I fee so... cold... at least I'm not sneezing anymore~ Achoo!... gesundheit"