Chaos in Classroom of the Elite: Class 1-C

"Mm." Ichinose's eyelids fluttered slightly before she slowly opened her eyes. A faintly blurred white ceiling came into view—not blurry, but rather because she was still groggy from sleep.

As she thought this, Ichinose blinked a couple more times until her vision cleared. Where was she? She should be on stage at the food street. What's this on her hand?

She barely tilted her head to see the needle in the back of her right hand, and instantly realized she was in a hospital, getting an IV drip. She lifted her head a bit and saw Yukio staring at the IV bag, seemingly lost in thought.

Because Yukio was looking up, his Adam's apple was particularly prominent, his long neck quite different from a girl's fair one, carrying a certain indescribable sense of solidity.

That's a guy's Adam's apple, huh? For some reason, Ichinose suddenly had the urge to bite it. Her face heated up—what was she even thinking?!

The crazy thought made Ichinose instinctively shake her head, trying to drive that bold idea out of her mind.

Naturally, this caught Yukio's attention. "Hm? You're awake already?"

"Uh? Mm-hmm!" Ichinose panicked, like a child caught doing something wrong, nervously avoiding Yukio's gaze and staring at the white ceiling instead.

Her mind raced, instinctively trying to change the subject to avoid Yukio asking why she had shaken her head just now. "Why am I in the hospital? Did you bring me here, Yukio-kun?"

"Oh, right! How's the food street doing? There's an event going on—I need to get back, Yukio-kun."

She had only intended to change the subject, but as she spoke, Ichinose became more and more anxious, even trying to get up and return to work.

Even though Ichinose asked a lot of questions, Yukio calmly answered them one by one. "You passed out from exhaustion and needed to come to the hospital. I brought you here. The food street is doing just fine, so you don't need to worry about it."

"Anyway, just rest easy. Once this glucose drip is finished, you can leave."

"But..." Ichinose still felt uneasy and tried to insist on going back. "But I feel so much better now, I'm really not tired anymore, and I have a lot of energy. I won't collapse again."

Yukio chuckled as he looked at Ichinose. For some reason, this scene felt like a reenactment of a classic moment. "Remember last year, on your sister's birthday, when your mom was exhausted and still wanted to get up to celebrate with her?"

Hearing this, Ichinose froze, any words she had to convince him of her good health completely stuck in her throat.

Yes, that day her mom was also exhausted, wanting to leave the hospital to celebrate her sister's birthday. But in the end, it was Ichinose who persuaded her mom to rest and not get up.

Suddenly, Ichinose understood her mom's feelings back then, and she also understood Yukio's concern for her right now.

Just as she cared deeply for her mom at that time, Yukio was equally concerned for her now. As someone who had been through it, she knew this kind of good intention better than anyone.

If her mom had forced herself to leave the hospital last year, Ichinose probably would have spent the whole day worrying, her mind occupied with her mom's health.

It's the same now. If she forced herself to leave the hospital, wouldn't Yukio-kun be equally worried?

"I understand." Finally, Ichinose obediently stayed lying down, deciding to wait until the glucose drip was done before going back to help at the food street.

"You don't need to worry." Yukio noticed the concern in Ichinose's eyes and pointed to the door of the hospital room. "Your good friends, Shiranami and Amikura, are here too."

"They just went out to buy you some fruit. They got a call from Kanzaki before they left, saying everything at the food street is settled, and there's nothing to worry about."

"I don't know exactly how it was settled, but if your vice class leader says so, you should just rest easy."

"That's great." Ichinose let out a long sigh of relief, her whole body relaxing completely, her worries gone. If Kanzaki said it was okay, then it must be.

"What's so great?" Seeing Ichinose relax, Yukio didn't hold back and pointed out the biggest issue Ichinose had in this special exam: "Are you pushing yourself so hard because you feel guilty towards your classmates?"

"Huh?" Ichinose was momentarily stunned, then she tried to play dumb, shaking her head as if she didn't understand what Yukio was talking about.

Unfortunately for her, no matter how much she tried to act, Yukio saw right through it. Plus, this girl was terrible at pretending: "Remember the uninhabited island?"

Ichinose nodded slightly, unsure why the conversation suddenly shifted to the uninhabited island.

"Back then, why didn't I see you exhausting yourself to the point of collapse? Logically speaking, surviving on an uninhabited island should be much more tiring than working at the food street, right?"

"A simple comparison shows the difference. During the uninhabited island test, your past wasn't known to your classmates, but by the time of the food street event, everyone in your class knew."

"With that in mind, you're probably carrying a sense of guilt, right? You feel that your classmates still supporting you as class leader, despite knowing everything, has placed a huge amount of trust in you, making you feel like you need to take on even more responsibility."

"Even though you're so exhausted every day that you fall asleep instantly, it hasn't made you change your mind."

To Yukio, this was the most serious issue. If Ichinose continued with this mindset, even if she didn't collapse during this special exam, there would surely come a day in the future when she would be overwhelmed.

"I'm not..." Ichinose tried to protest but found that she couldn't refute anything. Every word Yukio said reflected her true feelings.

The reason she pushed herself so hard in this special exam, the reason she was working so tirelessly, was precisely because she felt guilty towards her classmates and wanted to work even harder to repay their trust. Yukio had hit the nail on the head, without missing a single point.

After murmuring for a moment, Ichinose sighed in resignation: "Yukio-kun is always like this, easily seeing through everything. I can't hide anything from you. Am I... am I wrong to be like this?"

Yukio chuckled and reached out to pinch Ichinose's cheek, a gesture he hadn't done since the cruise. "There's nothing wrong with being trusted by others and working hard to repay that trust."

"What's wrong is focusing only on repaying that trust while neglecting your own well-being. If others trust you, but you can't even take care of yourself, how can you repay that trust?"

"Let me give you an example. Ichinose, you trust your mother a lot, don't you?"

Ichinose quickly nodded, already grasping the point Yukio was trying to make. It was just like last year when her mother collapsed from exhaustion—she was deeply saddened and felt that it shouldn't have happened.

Now, she realized the same logic applied. Even if her intention was to repay her classmates' trust, if she collapsed from exhaustion, it would only make them worry deeply about her. It wouldn't be repaying their trust at all; in fact, it would be betraying it.

With this clear example, Ichinose slowly came to understand. Her expression dimmed for a moment, but she soon brightened up: "I've decided. I'll apologize to everyone, and then we'll work together to get through this special exam!"

"I always wanted to be like my mom, but it turns out even my mom had her faults."

Seeing Ichinose open up, Yukio instinctively responded with encouragement: "Ichinose, you'll be a great mom in the future."

"!"

'Huh? Huh? Huh!' Ichinose was reflecting on her past, but suddenly she was caught off guard by Yukio's comment. Her eyes blinked rapidly, and her heart started pounding. 'What, what did he mean? She'll be a great mom in the future?'

'To be a mom, there has to be a baby, right?'

'And, and who would be the father of that baby? After all, having a baby means there has to be a dad.'

Instinctively, Ichinose glanced at Yukio, and her attention seemed to be drawn back to his Adam's apple. The Adam's apple is something only boys have, 'so Yukio-kun... Oh no,' she can't think about this anymore!

With that thought, Ichinose grabbed the white cotton blanket provided by the hospital with her free hand and covered herself completely: "I! I'm going to sleep for a bit!"