Chaos in Classroom of the Elite: Class 1-C

Ichinose was simply too exhausted; there were no other issues with her health. The doctor advised her to rest, and after finishing a bottle of glucose, she was able to return to the food street.

As they headed back, Yukio was looking at the scenery, while her close friends, Shiranami and Amikura, kept urging Ichinose to go home and rest, saying there was no need to rush back to the food street.

Ichinose shook her head gratefully, declining her friends' kind offer, but she did take their advice: "Chihiro, Mako, I won't push myself so hard anymore."

"I'm going back to the food street just to reassure everyone who was worried about me. I'll just sit and watch from the side and keep you company. I won't do anything."

"The classmates in our class and the grandpas and grandmas in the food street saw me faint. They're getting old, and I don't want them to worry for too long; it's not good for their health."

Faced with such a gentle request from Ichinose, especially since she made it clear she would only sit and watch and not work, Shiranami and Amikura had no choice but to agree. Shiranami even promised to keep a close eye on Ichinose to ensure she wouldn't work again. Ichinose could only smile and thank her, and soon the previously quiet bus was filled with the laughter of the girls.

Upon returning to the food street, Ichinose was warmly welcomed by all the shop owners: "Honami-chan! Thank goodness, you scared us! How did you suddenly faint?"

"It was my fault; I shouldn't have let you help so much. Ah, there are so many boys in your class; from now on, I'll just let the boys in your class do the work. You just take it easy, come on, I'll get you a drink."

"No, no, Honami-chan just got back from the hospital! What drink? Come over here; my shop has the air conditioner on. Come in and lie down for a bit."

Faced with the enthusiasm of the food street's shop owners, Ichinose felt incredibly happy. She realized that even though she had fainted from exhaustion, all the hard work over the past few days had been worthwhile and meaningful.

However, now that she was carrying everyone's trust, she couldn't let them down again. So she could only suppress her urge to help out and sincerely bowed in thanks: "Thank you, Aunt Tomokuchi, thank you, Grandpa Yamasaki, thank you, Grandma Futaba!"

"Ichinose!" At that moment, the one who had taken the most care of Ichinose, Grandma Ueno, pushed her way through the crowd and placed both hands on Ichinose's shoulders.

This made Ichinose a bit nervous, but Grandma Ueno only held her in place, carefully looking her over as if she was worried Ichinose might have gotten hurt.

The gentle and kind look in her eyes made Ichinose's heart feel warm, and she couldn't help but smile: "Really, it's rare to see you so concerned, Grandma Ueno~"

After all, in Ichinose's understanding, Grandma Ueno was the type of very stubborn elderly person, and this display of genuine care was indeed unusual.

This comment made Grandma Ueno pause for a moment, then she gently patted Ichinose and joined in the laughter: "You little rascal, always teasing people. Rest well, as for the remaining time in your task, I'll leave my shop in your hands."

"Huh?" Ichinose hadn't yet received this information from Kanzaki, possibly because he was worried she was still unconscious, so hearing this now left Ichinose quite confused.

What? Grandma Ueno's shop was entrusted to her?

"Ueno! How could you sneak ahead? What about me! Honami-chan, I'm entrusting my shop to you too!"

"Exactly, Ueno, you're as sharp as ever, but don't think you can keep Ichinose all to yourself. We've all decided to entrust our shops to her."

"Don't even think about hogging her, Ueno, we won't allow it. We're all leaving our shops in Honami-chan's care!"

Ichinose suddenly felt flustered and waved her hands in a panic: "What, what? Everyone, what are you all saying? I don't know how to manage a shop; I'll just end up causing losses."

At this point, Grandma Ueno gently clasped Ichinose's right hand between her own, cutting off her protests: "We're entrusting them to you precisely because we believe in you."

"Remember what I said, Ichinose, don't underestimate us old folks! After all these days, we can clearly see which students are in it just for the points and which ones are genuinely helping us. We're not so old and blind that we can't tell the difference!"

"Those second-year students, they're all about profit, and I can't stand it. It's only the young ones in your class who are genuinely helping us."

"But the most important thing is you, Ichinose. You're the kindest, most sincere child. We've all seen how hard you've worked these past few days, so please don't refuse us, okay?"

There were more than just shop owners watching; nearby, the second-year students, including Kiriyama and his group, all hung their heads, feeling a bit embarrassed to look at the elderly. They were indeed running the event for the sake of points, but could you really blame them? That was just the nature of the task.

Meanwhile, Ichinose's classmates were all excited. With Ichinose safe and sound and the shop owners voluntarily entrusting their stores to them, didn't that mean they had basically secured the victory for the food street task?

Even if Class 2-B's Kiriyama ran an event and boosted income to score high points, what did it matter? The highest revenue was still coming from the shops in the food street, right?

Now that Ichinose had effectively become the master of the food street, all the shop income would be added to their class's points. With a 30% bonus for first-year students, it was as if Kiriyama was working for them!

No matter how you calculated it, Ichinose's class was going to win this task with an overwhelming margin!

Members of Yukio's class, who were also watching, greeted their boss as he returned from the hospital. Ryūen didn't ask too many questions, merely observing the scene and quietly offering his assessment: "This task, Ichinose has won big time."

Yukio nodded in agreement with Ryūen's statement: "Looking across all twelve classes, only Ichinose's class could pull off something like this."

Ishizaki, not quite understanding his boss's evaluation, asked naively, "Huh? Even with you, our class couldn't do it?"

"No, we couldn't. I'm not that kind of good kid," Yukio replied, almost to prove his point, letting out a cheeky whistle. "Ishizaki, you need to understand."

"Those grandpas and grandmas aren't just letting Ichinose earn points; they're also temporarily handing over their shops to her. Do you know what that means?"

"It means that from today until the end of the task, all the cash they spend on ingredients, utilities, rent, and other costs won't bring them any return. For the rest of the time, all profits will be converted into points that are useless to them."

"These are their own businesses, after all. If there's any mismanagement, leading to a decline in reputation among consumers or some incident in the store, they'll still have to bear the consequences themselves."

"In serious cases, they might even have to close down the store."

"Huh?" Ishizaki really hadn't thought that far ahead: "Then why would they dare? Why would they dare to hand over the shops to Ichinose? Aren't they worried at all?"

"Worried? Sure, they're worried, but so what?" Yukio's gaze was relaxed as he watched Ichinose in the crowd, chatting and bonding with the grandpas and grandmas.

Looking at her smile, which seemed like the rising sun that could bring life to everything, he couldn't help but reflect: "They all cherish Ichinose like their own granddaughter. Do you think they'd really care about a bit of profit?"

...

200 power stones = 1 extra chapter

300 power stones = 2 extra chapter