Chaos in Classroom of the Elite: Class 1-C

The unconscious Ichinose, who had fainted from exhaustion, still radiated a gentle, graceful aura. All her weariness was hidden beneath her bright, cheerful smile. Yet, the barely noticeable furrow in her brow suggested that even in her unconscious state, she was worried about something, making her appear delicate and eliciting feelings of compassion.

With her eyes closed, her long eyelashes curled upwards, making her look like the sleeping beauty from a fairy tale—an angel in slumber, exuding an aura of serene beauty like that of a water lily.

In response to Yukio's questioning, Kanzaki, Shiranami, and the others who had quickly gathered around, were taken aback. Kanzaki seemed to realize something as he looked around. "Who was supposed to switch shifts with Ichinose?"

"Huh?" Shiranami gave Kanzaki a surprised look. "Wasn't it you? I asked Ichinose about it, and she said she was switching shifts with you."

By this point, Yukio had figured it out. The work at the food street was exhausting, so Ichinose's class must have implemented a rotation system. However, in an effort to take care of her classmates, Ichinose had skipped assigning herself a replacement. When others asked, she would casually name someone to avoid causing concern.

Yukio glanced at the sleeping Ichinose, realizing that from their first meeting, he knew she was naive, but he hadn't expected her to be this naive.

Not interested in hearing any more excuses from Ichinose's classmates, Yukio lifted her in a princess carry and started walking out. "I'll take her to the hospital. She probably just needs a saline drip with glucose."

"I'm coming too!" Shiranami and Amikura quickly followed, their faces full of worry. Kanzaki opened his mouth to speak but ultimately sighed and reassured the others.

He explained that it wasn't necessary for too many people to go to the hospital; having too many people could actually hinder Ichinose's rest. Moreover, they were in the middle of an event at the food street, and they couldn't afford to be short-handed.

Ichinose's classmates were deeply concerned and wanted to go with her, but Kanzaki's reasoning made sense, leaving them unable to leave.

Ishizaki, meanwhile, tried to reassure Kanzaki. "Don't worry. Our class's bus is parked right outside. If Yukio-san takes care of Ichinose, you can trust that she'll be fine. Don't you trust Yukio-san's abilities?"

Kanzaki shook his head in shame, unable to respond. This situation made him feel deeply uncomfortable.

But it wasn't over yet. Just as Kanzaki finished assigning the class members to return to work, he was suddenly surrounded by a group of elderly men and women. "Young man, what's wrong with Honami-chan? Why did she faint?"

"Aren't you all in the same class? How can you just let this happen? Don't you usually take better care of Honami-chan? She's such a good child!"

"Kanzaki-kun, what happened to Honami-chan? Did something happen to her? It's driving us crazy with worry! Speak up!"

Kanzaki was overwhelmed by the circle of elderly people surrounding him. He recognized them as the shop owners from the food street, each having a special bond with Ichinose.

Almost every one of them treated Ichinose like a beloved granddaughter, and now that something had happened to her, they were anxiously coming to him for answers.

No matter how much Kanzaki's head throbbed, he could only tell the truth: "Everyone, Ichinose, she's just exhausted. She hasn't really rested for half a month, and today she was just too busy..."

Kanzaki hadn't even finished speaking, but the meaning was clear enough: Ichinose wasn't seriously ill, just exhausted.

However, his words were like pouring a bottle of cold water into a pot of hot oil, immediately causing an uproar: "What! She fainted from exhaustion? You, you! Tomokuchi, Ueno! It's your fault for making Ichinose work so hard!"

"What?" Ueno Grandma instantly protested, pointing at another shop owner and retorting, "Get your facts straight! Ichinose has been working at my shop from start to finish! It's you guys who kept making her work! It's your fault!"

"Why blame us? That's just unreasonable, Ueno! We wouldn't let Ichinose work hard! We only gave her the easiest tasks because she's in the middle of an exam, don't you know that?"

"Everyone, please, let's not argue..." Kanzaki's attempt to calm them down was completely drowned out by the loud bickering of the elderly group.

He had no way to stop the argument, which only attracted more attention from nearby customers. Some onlookers, who enjoyed the spectacle, started gathering around to watch the commotion.

Some customers felt that the event wasn't all that great—if the shop owners were busy arguing and there was no food being made, what was the point of sticking around? It seemed like a waste of time, so they chose to leave directly.

This left Kiriyama feeling utterly disheartened. What kind of situation was this? The large-scale event was going so well, nearly securing victory, and then suddenly this mess happened.

However, since some customers wanted to leave, there was nothing Kiriyama could do to stop them. He could only watch anxiously, and finally, he couldn't stand it anymore. He decided to try to mediate the dispute and get those elderly shop owners back to work.

"Everyone, please go back to work. The customers are waiting for you," Kiriyama said, bringing a small megaphone to avoid the same helplessness that Kanzaki had faced.

Unfortunately, Kiriyama's efforts only added fuel to the fire. The group of arguing shop owners immediately redirected their anger toward him, attacking him with their words: "Work? What work? Don't you know Hanami collapsed from exhaustion?!"

"Exactly! It's all your fault! If it weren't for this stupid event, Ichinose wouldn't have been so overworked, she wouldn't have collapsed!"

"Forget it, let's just cancel this whole lousy event!"

"Huh? What?!" Kiriyama's eyes widened in shock as he faced the stubborn elderly shop owners. All his eloquence suddenly seemed useless, leaving him powerless to deal with such baseless blame.

What did this have to do with him? Everyone else took turns working shifts, and no one else collapsed from exhaustion. In the end, wasn't it Ichinose who pushed herself too hard? How did the blame end up on him?

And now they wanted to cancel the event? If that happened, it would be a complete disaster. Their entire Class B was counting on this special exam to regain their status as Class A.

Desperate, Kiriyama tried to reason with the shop owners, explaining that it wasn't his fault and pleading with them to return to work so the event could continue smoothly.

But the shop owners were already holding in a lot of frustration over Ichinose's collapse. Seeing such a good child fall because of this event left everyone feeling upset.

Having already vented their anger at Kiriyama, they had no intention of stopping halfway.

"Event? Event? All you ever talk about is the event! I'm telling you, it's canceled, and that's final!"

"Yeah, it's always about the event. Don't think just because we're older, we don't know what you young folks are up to. You just want to earn points and secure first place in the task, right? Forget about it!"

"Exactly! You want to take first place? The only first place is for our Hanami! If it comes down to it, this old lady will step down as shopkeeper and let Honami-chan take over!"

"I'll do the same! Let Honami-chan be the shopkeeper!"

Just hearing those words made cold sweat soak through Kiriyama's back. If the event was canceled, it could be dealt with—there was still time to organize another one, and their points were still higher than Ichinose's class.

But if the shopkeeper positions were given to Ichinose, wouldn't she be earning points effortlessly? And she'd earn more than anyone else? If so many shopkeeper positions went to Ichinose, what would be the point of the second-year students even competing?

This was Ichinose's unique ability—her hard work and efforts were finally bearing fruit at this moment, leaving Kanzaki, who could do nothing but watch, utterly stunned.

They... they might have actually won? Just like that? Is this even possible?