The Elemental Contestant (Running Man Animation Fanfiction) [Book 4]

Chapter 15: A Risky Plan

As Lonky, Popo and Pala cried tears of joy for their victory and clapped for Gai as a sign of appreciation, Liu, Kuga and Miyo gathered around to be treated by the medical staff. However, Sabriye insisted that she would be the one to heal them, regardless of Liu and Miyo's protests that she should leave that to the medical staff.

However, after healing Liu and Miyo and as she was halfway through healing Kuga, Sabriye would've fell to her feet if it weren't for Kuga catching her, the other contestants rushed to her aid and asked if she was okay. Sabriye flashed a small smile, which looked rather pained if they taken a closer look, and replied, "Yeah, I'm alright. It's just my healing abilities use up my energy."

The other contestants, especially Liu and Miyo, looked at her incredulously. "No wonder you passed out before! What were you thinking, healing us when you were the one who took the most damage from the gas?!" Liu asked in the same manner, while Miyo nodded slowly in agreement. The others looked at them in shock.

They didn't know that Sabriye took the most damage, especially Gai, who was at the scene. He thought that Miyo was the one who took the brunt of the hit from the floating balls. "Why don't we head back to the dorms? It's been a rough day," Sabriye suggested, although everyone, including herself, could easily agree that "rough" was an understatement.

The other contestants agreed and headed back to the dorms. Currently, Liu and Miyo were in Sabriye's room, applying bandages to her injuries, although Miyo was doing it rather roughly. Sabriye resorted to squeezing her stress ball to endure the pain. It wasn't like she was trying to hide her pain as her face kept twisting into a pained grimace, so Liu decided to take over in applying the bandages.

Sabriye immediately protested lightly, with a bashful smile and a tinge of pink on her cheeks, "L-Liu, you don't have to do that." Liu simply replied, "And leave you to endure the pain without complaining? No way." Sabriye looked away from Liu in an attempt to hide her bashful blush. After he was done, Sabriye softly thanked him, to which he responded with a smile, similar to how Sabriye did to Gai earlier.

All of a sudden, her door opened to reveal Lonky, Popo and Pala grinning from ear to ear as they entered. "Hey, guys!" Popo enthusiastically greeted with a wave. Sabriye smirked and then teased, "What did I say about invasion of privacy?" That confused the others. "Gee, ever heard knocking? Especially you, Lonky. For a prince, you sure lack basic manners," Sabriye teased even more, shaking her head in amusement with the smirk still on her face.

Lonky blushed a bright red in embarrassment as he spluttered, trying to explain himself, resulting in everyone else laughing at him. "Never mind that," Lonky said as he stopped blushing and stuttering and returned to his normal self. "The three of us prepared something something to cheer you guys right up..." He trailed off as he looked at Popo and continued, "Right?"

Popo nodded in response. Lonky, Popo and Pala went into position and started doing the same dance they did for Kuga when he lost his gloves. Liu and Miyo deadpanned at this. It really was ridiculous. However, Sabriye's reaction wasn't like theirs at all. "Pfft..." The other contestants in the room looked at Sabriye, who was trying to stifle her laughter.

However, her attempt seemed to have been in vain as she burst out laughing. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. HAHA!" Sabriye wheezed out through her laughter before starting to calm down. She couldn't deny that the dance and singing were both ridiculous, but, to her, that was what made it all so hilarious.

"Thanks, guys. I needed that," Sabriye as she tried to catch her breath from laughing. Lonky, Popo and Pala grinned from ear to ear much more widely than before. Changing the subject, Liu said, "Guys, have you noticed that there was something off about the game earlier?" Pala then asked, "Like what?"

"I think... the game was definitely rigged to play out a certain way this time." Lonky, Popo and Pala started contemplating it before Lonky brought up that they didn't notice it. Liu then groaned and explained, "Just think about it. For example, in the Escape Race, I would've won if Gai hadn't somehow gotten out of jail again. Grr... I'm mad, thinking about it."

Sabriye then smirked and responded, "Then, don't think about it." Liu threw a deadpanned expression at her. Miyo then spoke up, gaining everyone else's attention, "I just can't ignore this. It's true that the rules of the game are getting stranger. So then, if the games are being played out in a particular way, that means someone must be controlling them from behind."

No one noticed how Sabriye subtly tensed. "In other words, there might be... a spy hidden among us... just like Liu and his secret to take us out in the Escape Game." Lonky and Pala were surprised to hear, while Popo contemplated on it and then accused Miyo of being the spy. He even brought up the topic of her nightly activities to support his accusation as well.

Lonky and Pala started joining in on accusing Miyo, resulting in Sabriye face-palming and Miyo scratching the trio in anger. Miyo then started defending herself by giving good points on why she was not the spy. Lonky, Popo and Pala then looked at Liu and Sabriye. Liu pointed at his injuries to make a point, while Sabriye bluntly told them with a deadpanned expression, "I'm the one who passed out, remember?"

Everyone else in the room flinched at that. They were still shaken up by the fact that she was badly hurt. They believed that she didn't deserve it, especially Miyo. She was the most shaken up, due to the fact that Sabriye, or rather Fighting, had sacrificed herself to protect her. She still felt guilty for it, despite feeling grateful at the same time. She wished it had been her instead.

Everyone, except Sabriye, looked at Pala for a moment before looking away from him, knowing for sure that he wasn't the spy. After all, Pala was deemed to be the weakest member on the Running Man Team. They then came to the conclusion to interrogate Kuga, which Sabriye didn't look forward to.

When they were interrogating the tiger in question, Gai arrived at the scene. He was confused as to why Kuga was being interrogated, but that confusion shifted to nervousness when Pala revealed their intentions. Kuga was getting infuriated by their interrogating and before he could resort to violence, Gai intervened and kept denying that there would be a spy.

He even made a speech that the so-called spy would feel guilty for doing what they did during the game and called everyone on the team "friends". Sabriye watched it all by the sidelines in silence, alongside Miyo. She knew that was exactly what Gai felt. In the end, Gai sent everyone off to bed, but the females of the team stayed behind.

"That was impressive," that comment from Miyo left Gai chuckling sheepishly. "How did you explain it so well... why there wouldn't be a spy?" Miyo questioned. "Well... there isn't proof that there is a spy either," Gai carefully answered, but hiccupped immediately after he said that, causing Sabriye to subtly tense up.

"Welp, I'd better go look after my brothers. See ya," Gai quickly, but subtly dismissed. However, before he could leave, Miyo questioned, "Why did you help us out in the last game?" Gai hiccupped again. "You pretty much won it, right?" Miyo questioned once more. Gai nervously answered, "No. No, I didn't. You're mistaken." Miyo sighed at that.

Gai stayed silent for a few seconds. Sabriye knew exactly what he was thinking, 'Maybe I should tell her.' Gai then started, "Hey, Miyo-" However, he was interrupted when she said, "Just stop. I shouldn't have said anything," and left. Gai and Sabriye watched her leave in silence and with solemn frowns. Gai was about to leave, but was stopped once again, "Gai."

The monkey in question turned to Sabriye as she said, with the solemn frown remaining on her face, "We need to talk."
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A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the cliffhanger, but the chapter was getting a bit too long. Besides, I had a tiny urge to leave you guys in the suspense. 😏 Anyways, thanks for reading this, I hope you guys like it, stay tuned for more updates and I'll see you all in the next chapter. Bye. 👋🏼