Chaos in Classroom of the Elite: Class 1-C

The bustling food street, with its many shops entrusted to Ichinose, allowed her class to completely dominate, essentially turning the second-year ABC classes into workers for the first-years.

The large-scale event they organized meant that all the revenue from the shops directly translated into points for Ichinose's class, creating a massive gap between them and their second-year seniors—a gap so large that it left Kiriyama and his peers feeling utterly hopeless.

After the day's events concluded, the second-year students returned to the hotel, collectively dispirited. Only the second-year Class D, assigned to the eel farm, escaped unscathed, avoiding the crushing defeat that befell everyone else.

The situation in the other two task groups remains ambiguous, with no clear winner yet, but at least in the food street task, the outcome is decided. Ichinose's class, with an absolute lead, is certain to take first place, leaving everyone else scrambling for second at best.

Students in the hotel lobby, upon hearing this latest news, were astonished: "The outcome of the food street task is already decided? Is Ichinose's class really that amazing?"

"These are second-year seniors! And they were completely steamrolled by Ichinose?"

"That's the reality. Ichinose earned the trust of all the shop owners in the food street, converting all the revenue into points. Kiriyama and his group essentially ended up working for Ichinose, and there's no way their points can surpass hers."

"So, does that mean Ichinose's class simply did their regular work and won in the end? They didn't even need to come up with a core revenue growth strategy to win—they just won with the usual points?"

"That seems to be the case. Who would have thought? Without relying on a core strategy to increase revenue, just by gaining the trust of the shop owners and doing regular work, they secured the final victory."

"No, no, maybe gaining the shop owners' trust was part of Ichinose's class strategy all along. You really can't underestimate this first-year class. Having someone like Yukio who could force Nagumo out is one thing—there's always a prodigy or two—but who would have expected another like Ichinose?"

"Yes, this first-year class is one to watch out for, especially with the third semester still ahead. Who knows, we might face another setback at the hands of the first-years."

Ever since the sports festival, when Yukio orchestrated an embarrassing situation for Nagumo, leading to the big news of Nagumo 'voluntarily applying for withdrawal,' the upperclassmen have been more cautious around the first-years.

However, this caution was mainly directed at Yukio. The upperclassmen believed that only Yukio posed a threat to them; as for the other first-year classes? They were merely points generators for the upperclassmen.

Besides Yukio, no first-year student was taken seriously by the upperclassmen, including the much-hyped Sakayanagi and the supposedly most popular Ichinose. To the upperclassmen, they were nothing special.

But after this recent incident, many upperclassmen have been shaken by Ichinose. No one expected such a unique strategy of directly 'becoming the boss.'

No matter how well you planned your strategies to increase revenue, everything ended up being just work for Ichinose, making it impossible to surpass her in income.

This has led the upperclassmen to collectively take the first-years more seriously.

Class 3-A also received the news and immediately informed Horikita Manabu, asking if he should try to replicate Ichinose's strategy.

If they could successfully mimic Ichinose's approach at Takahashi's Yukata shop, even Yukio's class wouldn't be able to compete for first place.

However, after receiving the news, Horikita Manabu rationally shook his head and dismissed the idea: "It's not feasible. Both the Yukata shop task and the eel farming task each have only one owner—Mr. Takahashi on our side and Mr. Fujii on the eel side."

"In situations where there's only one owner, profit comes first. No matter how much they trust the students, they would never hand over their entire business to students."

"Even if the students were trustworthy, the idea of converting all the business's revenue into our points instead of the cash the owners want makes this strategy impossible."

"The food street is a unique case. There are several managers responsible for operations, but all the shops are owned or rented by elderly people, which is completely different from our situation."

"Indeed." Tachibana, who was reporting the news, scratched his head. "Over at the food street, Ichinose has really won over people's hearts. Those elderly shop owners adore her, which is why the victory was so overwhelming."

Horikita Manabu looked around at his classmates who were waiting for his conclusion and displayed the corresponding confidence. "We'll stick to our original plan. Let's focus all our efforts on the yukata competition. There's no need to imitate others; we'll take on this challenge head-on and secure this task with honor!"

The same information reached the eel farming task group. In Matsushita's room, where she was currently leading Class D, Horikita, Karuizawa, Kushida, Hirata, and even Ayanokoji had gathered...

Ayanokoji glanced around. "So, why exactly do I need to be here?"

Horikita, still as composed as ever, replied, "Because your suggestions during the advertisement shoot were helpful. So, I thought it was necessary for you to attend."

"Huh?" Ayanokoji responded in his usual low-energy tone, "I just casually mentioned emphasizing the Advanced Nurturing High School brand. The rest has nothing to do with me."

Horikita, unwilling to engage further with this low-profile individual, turned to Matsushita instead. "The advertisement has been filmed over the past week, and I believe it's time to upload it."

"Although we don't know what Sakayanagi's class is up to—they haven't shown any strategies—it has given us the advantage. We've already secured some funding from Mr. Fujii for promotional filming."

"But since we've seized the initiative, there's no reason to give it up now. We must act quickly. Otherwise, if Sakayanagi's strategy emerges, we'll be at a disadvantage."

The news of Ichinose's brilliant victory acted as an invisible motivator, prompting both Horikita Manabu and Class 1-D to quicken their pace.

Matsushita also agreed with Horikita's approach; otherwise, she wouldn't have gathered everyone for a meeting. However, compared to Horikita, she was more considerate of everyone's opinions, so she asked, "What does everyone think?"

"I'm fine with it; I support you, Chiaki," Karuizawa, as a close friend, was the first to respond, though she felt a bit anxious inside. She wasn't sure how effective the advertisement would be—if it went well, it would be a great success, but if not, she might have to take some of the blame.

Kushida and Hirata, one pretending to be a "good person" and the other genuinely being one, naturally had no objections. Ayanokoji was eager to leave as soon as possible, not wanting to draw attention to himself, so he nodded quickly without saying a word.

"Good." Matsushita felt a sense of relief. With everyone in agreement, it meant the promotional strategy could officially begin. She immediately took out her laptop. "In that case, let's start uploading."