Climax of the night

A frantic Muki shoved her feet into a pair of high-end hi-top blue sneakers as she rushed down the hallway to the stairs, just informed moments ago of news that her sister, Yamane, had been attacked and was in critical condition. She was joined by an equally frantic woman with short spiky blue hair clad in a suit coat, green undershirt, jeans, and sneakers. This was Muki and Yamane's mother, Machiko, the mayor of Ohana. 

Both Muki and Machiko quickly rushed outside and crowded into a limousine along with some servants and bodyguards. 

"Who did this to her!?" Machiko cried as the limo started up.

The servant bit her lip. "According to the report... it appeared to be a mob of small green creatures."

"Goblins? No, must be some bastards cosplaying as them. Anything else?" Muki asked.

"No. We lost contact, presumably due to our eyes dying."

"Living eyes you mean," Muki snarled as she whipped out her tablet and booted it up.

"Why are you playing games in the car!? We need to get to Yamane!" Machiko screeched.

"Calm down. I'm not playing, I'm pulling up footage."

Once the boot-up and log-in were completed, Muki's screen began to fill with livefeed videos that appeared to be from security cameras presumably set-up all around town. Most looked fine, but one that jumped out was one at a railroad crossing, where a pack of small humanoid creatures were beating the tracks with clubs and bows.

"What the fuck? Are those goblins?"

And the next moment, the train came speeding in, running over the goblins. Muki quickly made a mental note of the train's path and number before shifting over to a camera feed that appeared to show Yamane's high school. Nothing appeared on footage, prompting Muki to rewind it 15 minutes to start.

"7:35 PM, that's the key time... What!?"

Muki watched in shock as the goblins suddenly appeared and began attacking, but that wasn't what had caught her attention. "Why'd it go night-mode so quick? ...!"

Muki immediately rolled down the window and stared out at the night. The sights in town she was driving by looked normal, but something about the sky itself was off. Keeping it in the back of her mind, she rolled the window back up and returned to watching the footage.

Seeing Yamane get brutally attacked brought tears forth from Muki's eyes, putting her on the verge of vomiting, but she remained focused and didn't take her eyes off the screen, nor let her mother's frantic shouting at her disrupt her.

"DID YOU FIND HER!? IS SHE ALRIGHT!? SHE'S THE PERFECT ONE UNLIKE YOU! I CAN'T LOSE HER!"

"Shut up! I'm combing through it now!"

"Madam, we've arrived," the servant stated.

Muki scowled and turned off her tablet, reaching for a handgun hidden in the seat's compartment. "Listen to me! My mother may top the chain of command, but she's too frantic to think straight. First sign of danger to our lives, you drive this shit out of here!"

"What are you saying!? We need Yamane!" Machiko fumed.

Muki shot her a tearful glare. "If we can scoop her up, we will, but if not, we have to go. We can't all die like idiots in a horror movie out here."

The limo slowly reached the school gates with tensions high all around, but a surprise awaited everyone in the form of Ikebukuro and Bisento standing before them, carrying an unconscious and slightly battered Yamane.

The limo came to a halt as Machiko frantically burst out and ran towards the elves. "YAMANE!"

"You idiot! Don't just run out!" Muki fumed as she rolled down the window and readied her gun out of sight.

"Do not be alarmed. We come in peace, and have saved this girl's life," Ikebukuro calmly stated.

Yamane's eyes slowly opened. "Wh- Where am I?" she groggily mumbled.

"Yamane!" Machiko cried as Bisento set Yamane down, allowing Machiko to hug her.

"She was in a banged up state, but I managed to save her with some medical know-how," Ikebukuro stated.

"And I killed the goblins," Bisento grumbled.

"And just who are you two?" Muki asked as she cautiously poked her head out the window.

"I am Ikebukuro. This is Bisento. We are peace-loving elves," Ikebukuro stated calmly. 

"Cosplay?"

"Um, what?"

"Nothing." 

With what she had seen on camera, coupled with the elves' appearances, it was fair for Muki to assume these two were real elves, which was true. Yet that seemingly unimportant mental note would ultimately prove vital in the town of Ohana's battle for survival. 

Machiko, meanwhile, was beside herself with tears. "Saviors! You saved my precious daughter's life! I heard she was covered in blood, but here she is, safe and sound."

"Is she really? She might be effected by magic," Muki scowled. 

The remark came purely from Muki's experience with fantasy novels and games, but to Ikebukuro, the remark was alarming.

"She has knowledge of the world!? Impossible, she doesn't even look like she's set foot outside. But she's right, dammit. There is magic in this world, but she doesn't need to know that," Ikebukuro thought. "I've heard rumors of ancient magic, but it's mostly just fairy tale. This girl seems like she's just fine."

"Oh, thank heavens. But we should still take her to the hospital to get her checked up," Machiko sighed in relief. 

"You have a hospital?"

A proud smile enveloped Machiko's face. "Do we? Girl, let me tell you about one of the prides of our city..."

Muki rolled her eyes, but kept them trained on Ikebukuro's face. Her actions had been suspicious, but could be defended as normal. Nonetheless, they had rubbed Muki the wrong way.

"She was smiling. Smiling like nothing truly was wrong. Her eyes were like that too until I brought up the topic. Maybe it's nothing, doctors would lie to someone like my mom to get in good graces... good graces..."

"...And if I might add, you can simply scan the QR code- Oh, do you have a phone?"

"Yes, I came across one," Ikebukuro smiled as she pulled out the smartphone she took from a corpse.

The fact that she even had a smartphone was enough to send out a warning flag, but the fact that the smartphone's cover was covered in old stickers blasted a warning siren in Muki's head.

"Now- Um. Ngh... One second," Ikebukuro nervously smiled.

In a move unseen by the humans, Ikebukuro cast illusionary magic over herself, allowing her to freely whip out the severed finger to unlock the phone.

While Muki couldn't see the deed, Ikebukuro's static image coupled with the building suspicion was enough to tell her something was off. Her mother and Yamane didn't share her sentiment, with the former bonding quickly with the elves and the latter still too groggy to process things proper.

Ikebukuro could sense Muki's weariness and was equally weary of her, but decided to keep silent. "That girl will be trouble, but the older woman is clearly the one with the authority and the more gullible one here. For now, I just need to continue to woo her and access to the heart of this mysterious town will be mine," she thought.