Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

Volume 32 - Ch 4

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On the evening of August 11th, there was an event that could not be ignored, regarding the aftermath process of the Miyakijima incident.

High school students who happened to be on site at the time of the armed attack testified on a TV news program.

The cable TV station that they appeared on was not one of those dominated by traditional media. It is a channel operated by the multi-media company "Culture Communication Network", commonly known as "Cal Net". As a matter of fact, the owner and president of "Cal Net" is the father of Maki Owamura, a famous actress who had involvement with Tatsuya through Shippou Takuma last April.

And it goes without saying that the "high school students who happened to be there" are Erika, Leo, and Mikihiko. After clarifying that they are in fact Magic High School students and Tatsuya's friends, they talked about the attack on, and defense of, Miyakijima.

The repercussions of the program were large.

Some people saw it with colored glasses, because they were aspiring magicians and Tatsuya's friends, but many viewers viewed it as just high school students who witnessed the incident by chance.

It was Erika who spoke the most. Both Leo and Mikihiko hated to appear on TV in the first place, but Erika forced them to appear together because there would be strange misunderstandings if she appeared by herself.

To tell the truth, Erika herself had no intention of appearing on TV until the day before yesterday. Immediately after returning to Tokyo on the 6th, she received multiple requests for appearances from all over, but she refused all of them.

However, the day before yesterday, when she allowed a certain terrestrial TV station an interview under the condition that they did not reveal her face or name. She was persistently guided by the script of the TV station and felt a sense of crisis that "maybe the facts would be twisted".

They were allowed to stay that day on Miyakijima on the condition that they would be a third party witness. If nothing is done in this situation, it may develop into fake news that would be disadvantageous to Tatsuya. Contrary to appearances, Erika has a strong sense of duty, and was so worried that she decided to appear in the news, on the condition that it would be a live broadcast, since it had a low risk of the report being distorted.

A scenario that a certain TV station tried to make up was that Tatsuya was hiding a relationship with Erika from Miyuki. And he struggled not only with the New Soviet army but also with the American military to protect Erika. The phrase "strange misunderstanding" that she mentioned when dragging Leo and Mikihiko into this appearance was with this scenario in mind.

As mentioned before, there were voices that assumed that Tatsuya was defending a magician who attended the same high school, based on Erika and the others' behaviour. Although they were few in number, the voices were loud.

However, in terms of the "number" of voices, there were far more favorable ones. Many asked amusing things such as "Who is that beautiful girl?".

In this way, Erika made a brilliant debut during the interview, and along with it, completed the mission to become a true witness with Leo and Mikihiko She felt that the main subject was changed, but as long as the original purpose was achieved, it seemed to be a trivial problem.

Monday, August 12th.

Tatsuya went to school by air car with Miyuki and Lina on board. Manual driving to school was originally prohibited, but he was specially allowed because of the pressing concern of the havoc it would cause if he used a public transport, and also given the fact he is currently on summer vacation.

He came to First High for the first time in a long time to meet his friends who had a hard time yesterday.

The first person he was looking for was in the cafe.

"Erika, thank you for your hard work yesterday. I'm grateful for your help."

"Really. On Tatsuya-samas behalf, thank you Erika"

Tatsuya and Miyuki thank Erika, who was absentmindedly holding her chin in her hands, for yesterday's TV appearance.

"You're welcome."

Erika replied with a dull smile and a rather tired voice.

"Erika, you don't seem to be very well, are you feeling sick?"

Lina was worried and asked.

"It's okay. I'm just a little tired emotionally."

"Emotionally?"

Lina didn't seem to understand, but Tatsuya and Miyuki seemed to.

Even on the school grounds, where she is well known, there were 50% more eyes than usual on Erika. The stare of others outside First High must have been irritating for her.

"You probably should have stayed at home today."

"That's not the case."

Erika shook her head at the words of sympathy from Tatsuya.

"There aren't many days until the Inter-School Matches."

With that said, Erika stands up in a hurry.

"See you later."

Erika, hangs a bag with a change of clothes over her shoulder and leaves while waving her vacant hand.

"She is surprisingly diligent."

Lina muttered surprised, while watching Erika's back moving away.

Tatsuya was initially exposed to this backbiting back in May.

So many things have happened since that she didn't care anymore.

Igarashi didn't understand that much, but for the time being, he was relieved to know that Miyuki wasn't angry and stroked his chest.

"Rather, Igarashi-kun."

"Yes. What is it!"

Called by his name shortly after he relaxed, Igarashi stretched his spine like a recruit being yelled at by a very strict sergeant.

Miyuki tilts her head in response to his excessive reaction.

"What will happen with the rules for female competitors?"

However, Miyuki, who thought it was not necessary to worry, asked about the advice given by Tatsuya on Saturday.

"Rules?"

Igarashi cannot understand the purpose of the question and asks back.

"When a female player participates in Monolith Code at college, she would be allowed to use a defensive armament device with programmed object shield magic. At least the protector should be given preferential treatment."

Miyuki conveyed the content pointed out by Tatsuya as an answer.

"Oh, that's right"

From Igarashi's reaction, he seemed to know about the college rules.

"I will talk with other schools immediately."

Igarashi goes to the video conference system as said.

Miyuki and Lina looked at the huried figure, and then at each other. They went out of the club activities headquarters so as not to get in the way.

At the same time, Tatsuya went to the training forest behind the school building where the Monolith Code practice was being held.