Classroom of the Elite: I Can Assign Master's Tasks

He wasn't a picky eater.

Besides, a beautiful girl had made this lunch herself. He had to try it, if only to show his appreciation.

"I envy the lucky guy who gets to marry Ichinose Mom someday. You don't find many wives and mothers as perfect as her."

"..."

Ichinose Honami fell silent.

She couldn't handle Nangong Cheng calling her "Ichinose Mom" at every opportunity, or the fact that he could barely go three sentences without finding a new way to praise her.

It was mortifying.

Nangong Cheng could read the room. Knowing how easily the innocent girl got embarrassed, he stopped teasing her there.

Before long, breakfast and their packed lunches were ready.

"So good!"

Having delivered his praise in the fewest words possible, Nangong Cheng began wolfing down his food.

Ichinose Honami's table manners were as gentle and graceful as she seemed. She ate in small bites.

After they cleared the dishes, the two headed out together.

"Oh, right. Should I transfer you some Points, Ichinose Mom?"

"You didn't have many to begin with, and now you've got another mouth to feed. I don't think they'll last until next month."

Nangong Cheng was reaching for his phone as he spoke, but Ichinose Honami put out a hand to stop him.

She shook her head, her expression earnest.

"Nangong, didn't I tell you?"

"I'm cooking for you because I want to. If you pay me, won't that make it a transaction?"

Ichinose Honami pressed the lunch box into Nangong Cheng's hand, then walked backward out of the elevator with her hands behind her back, facing him.

"Besides, you call me Mom. Isn't cooking for my child part of a mother's duty?"

"So just accept it, okay?"

"Oh, and I'll come by again tonight. If there's anything you want to eat, message me ahead of time!"

With that, Ichinose Honami smiled and ran off.

Nangong Cheng watched her vanish from sight like a startled deer. He weighed the lunch box in his hand and smiled to himself.

But as he passed the entrance, the dorm supervisor suddenly poked her head out.

"Young man, be careful you don't get someone pregnant."

"..."

Nangong Cheng was at a loss for words, but he nodded seriously to show he'd heard her.

He made his way to the Class D classroom.

Horikita Suzune sat in her usual spot, still as a statue. One seat away, Sakura Airi was still hiding like an ostrich.

Nangong Cheng greeted them both.

Sakura Airi answered with a hum barely louder than a mosquito. Horikita Suzune, meanwhile, focused on something else entirely.

"Did you make that lunch yourself?"

"My mom made it."

"???"

Horikita Suzune: I Can Be Your Mom Too

Horikita Suzune visibly froze. She clearly hadn't expected an answer like that.

"Your mom? Isn't this school closed to visitors all year?"

"Yeah. So I found myself a mom and had her make it for me. Is there a problem?"

Looking at Nangong Cheng's proud expression, Horikita Suzune found herself speechless.

What do you mean, you found yourself a mom?

What on earth are you talking about?

"Then your real mother..."

"I grew up in an orphanage."

"..."

Horikita Suzune fell silent again.

She thought she'd seen everything.

But this was a first.

"I'm sorry..."

"What are you apologizing for? I'm happy with my life now, so don't get all sentimental on me."

Nangong Cheng hadn't lied about his background.

In both his past life and this one, he'd been on his own.

And compared with the "golden age" he'd lived through before crossing over, he genuinely preferred this world where anime had become reality.

Not to mention, he'd gained a system that could change his fate and the life he'd once only dreamed of. Of course he was happy with how things were.

"..."

Horikita Suzune nodded, looking quite serious.

Nangong Cheng figured she'd understood.

"Then... why don't I be your mom?"

?

When I'm the one left with a question mark, I'm not the problem. You are.

"Wait... you..."

Nangong Cheng stared at Horikita Suzune in shock. His ability to speak nearly shut down.

It was on par with Nagasaki Soyo's earth-shattering kneel.

I'm begging you.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm just worried someone might be taking advantage of you. By now, the whole school knows you have several million Points."

Horikita Suzune's voice was steady and her expression calm, as though she were discussing something perfectly ordinary.

"Besides, I've read some books from your hometown. I remember one of them saying that the prettier a woman is, the better she is at lying."

"And as a woman, I know a little about how women think. If you tell me who she is, I can help you figure out whether this mom of yours is a good person."

Nangong Cheng gave her a strange look.

Shouldn't you be the one worried about getting taken advantage of?

Still, if she wanted to know, he had no intention of hiding it. He might as well tell her outright.

"It's Ichinose from Class B."

"We made a deal. I'd get her a spot on the Student Council, and in return, she'd be my mom."

Now it was Horikita Suzune's turn to fall silent.

Honestly, before meeting Nangong Cheng, she'd never imagined someone else's words could leave her speechless. Yet it had happened more than once.

Apparently, she still had a lot to learn.

Someone in this world had actually asked a girl his own age to be his mom, even if only in an emotional sense.

And he'd traded something as hard to get as a Student Council position for it. Horikita Suzune truly couldn't understand such a terrible bargain.

"What about me?"

"Why didn't you offer me that deal? If all you need is someone to make your lunch, I can do that too."

Nangong Cheng gave Horikita Suzune another strange look.

Wait, what are you saying?

I see you as a potential wife, and you want to be my mom?

Sure, motherly girlfriends and wives existed, but did that fit Horikita Suzune at all?

"You really don't get it..."

"Let me ask you one thing. You don't actually think I asked Ichinose Honami to be my mom just so she'd make me lunch, do you?"

Horikita Suzune froze.

Wasn't that why?

Why else would you ask someone to be your mom?

Wait...

She was about to answer, but then she remembered everything Nangong Cheng had done so far.

Experience had shown her that she could no longer use ordinary logic to make sense of someone like him.

"Then what else do you want?"

"You don't need to know all that yet. Finish the assignment you already have."

Nangong Cheng looked at Horikita Suzune curiously.

She didn't strike him as a nosy person, so why had she been so full of questions these past few days?

Hadn't he used his last task assignment yesterday to give her another Daily Task?

[Daily Task issued]

[Target: Horikita Suzune]

[Task: Write a class observation journal of at least 1,000 words every day]

[Reward: 100 Points per day]

[Penalty for failure: Send Nangong Cheng one gloomy message every day]

"Oh, right. If you're that curious, figure it out yourself. Consider it your second assignment."

"..."

That shut her up.

Horikita Suzune closed her mouth.

She did have a theory, though. She just needed a little more evidence to see if it held up.

Before they knew it, classes were over.

It was time to choose someone for another task.

Nangong Cheng felt as though he went to work every day. Until he'd assigned all his tasks, he couldn't relax or sleep.

"Airi, do you have any dreams?"

"...I—I don't know..."

Sakura Airi had never thought about it.

Until the system appeared, she'd spent her life simply getting by.

She didn't know?

That was fine too.