Fushigi Yuugi starts off with a girl named Yuuki Miaka daydreaming about food. She is about to eat, when all the food disappears and the background becomes dark. Voices say to her that 9th graders don't have time to eat, and instead should study for the entrance exams. She suddenly wakes up and, holding her desk, bashes the teacher over the top of his head, yelling for him to give her back her food. Finally aware of who she had just hit with her desk, the teacher asks Miaka to stand out with the hallway and then continues with his lesson. After school, Hongo Yui, Miaka's best friend and her are walking down the street with two of their classmates. They ask Miaka where she wants to go for high school. Miaka confidently replies that she wants to go to Jonan Academy. They all gasp in shock, on account of that Jonan Academy is a very tough school to get into. Yui adds that she will be taking the entrance exams with Miaka. After arriving at the train station, their two friends leave and they board the train to the National Library. Yui leaves Miaka to go return a book at the desk while Miaka stares in awe at her surroundings. Then, Miaka spots a juice machine and runs over to it, cheering her up a little. As she is deciding which juice to choose, Miaka accidentally drops her coin and as she picks it up, she sees a big red bird that flies upstairs and vanishes into the Important Documents Room. Miaka follows and stops at the room. The bird indeed had vanished. Miaka is startled by Yui, who followed Miaka upstairs. After telling her best friend what she had seen, she gets a laugh as a response. Suddenly they hear a book drop to the floor. The two girls peer inside the room and cautiously walk into the gloomy and dark surroundings. Yui picks up the book and starts reading the traditional Chinese characters that are printed upon the paper. Her best friend is amazed at Yui's skill in reading it, so Yui continues reading aloud. After reading more, both of the girls are puzzled by the mysterious book's words. A short moment later, both of them are surrounded by a glowing red light and everything blacks out. The next thing they know, they wake up in a barren area with nobody around. They are confronted by a couple of girl traffickers who threaten to sell them. Miaka, seeing that Yui was captured by one of them, charges headfirst into him and tumbles to the floor, pleading for her best friend to run. However, she also is captured. Fortunately, they are saved by a handsome young man with the character of the ogre on his forehead. Both Miaka and Yui watch in amazement at both his glowing character and his fighting. With his advanced Martial Arts skills, he punishes the men and sends them off running. After that, the man asks if the girls are okay and holds out his hand for money. Then, after finding out that they are penniless, he turns to leave. as Yui gets up to follow the young man, she is surrounded by the same red light as before and disappears. Miaka, not realizing what had just happened, assumes that the young man had kidnapped Yui. So she goes to follow him. Yui, who is transported back to the real world, calls for Miaka, but there was no answer. She continues reading the book in a dazed state, hoping it will give her a clue. As she is reading what happens in the book, it is really happening to Miaka.

Meanwhile in the book world, Miaka is riding on the back of a wagon when she looks up and is completely amazed to see ancient chinese buildings. Then she spots the young man that had saved them and hops off the wagon, and into the crowd of people. Colorful sights surround the young japanese girl as men balance one foot on elephants while performing other amazing feats. Oblivious to the fact that she had lost track of where the young man had gone, she also realizes how hungry she is when Miaka comes across a cart full of chinese bao, drooling the whole while. The man at the stand taps her over the top of the head with his pan and tells her to stop drooling. As Miaka hands the man her change, she asks him if he's seen a handsome young man with the sign of the ogre on his forehead. The man selling the chinese bao grins, saying that the handsome man is right in front of her. Then he widens his eyes, glancing at Miaka. The 15 year old girl, with food in mouth, thinks to herself "Here's my chance!" and quickly scurries down the dirt road. The man, now angry, yells after her shouting "What kind of money is this!?!?!?" Miaka, scared half to death and running, shouts back that it's 100 japanese heisei.

After interrogating various villagers about the handsome young man, she sits down to rest as a man approaches her. The young girl then thinks that the man is "girl hunting" and tries to play "hard to get" by saying that she's looking for someone. The man replies by telling her that he is very good friends with the young handsome man who had saved Yui and Miaka. He promised to arrange for them to meet.

Back in the village, Miaka is the talk of the town. Two men have a conversation about her looking for the man with the character of the ogre on his forehead. Another man joins into the conversation, mentioning that she ran off with food, giving the man some foreign coins. The man that Miaka had been searching for all day is listening to the conversation not too far into the distance, sipping his drink.

After a few more minutes of walking, Miaka starts to feel a little insecure with the man who had said that he would arrange for Miaka and the man to meet. When she asks where he is, the man suddenly stops walking, smirks and tells her that he's here. About four more men emerge from the shadows and team up beside the man. Miaka, who is now terrified, backs up against the stone wall and gazes with fear in her eyes. Then, she realizes that she's in ancient China and that doing anything won't affect her own school record. So, gathering up all her courage, she throws off her sweater, rolls up her blouse sleeves and gives a speech to the gansters that even though the sun may forgive them, Yuuki Miaka will not! Then she punishes the gangsters by imitating moves she saw on a western wrestling show. When all of them are down on the floor, she smiles cheerfully and thinks to herself that she can do anything if she tries. Unfortunately, one of the gangsters recover, grabbing her ankle and tripping her to the ground. She is in deep trouble until a small pebble hits the back of one man's head. Annoyed, he looks up and sees a man with navy blue hair, stray strands tied up with string in the back. He stands defiantly on the top of a building, throwing the pebble up and down in the air. He frowns as he asks the gang, "Five guys? For one female...? Is that what a REAL man would do?" and he suddenly snatches the pebble in mid-air as the red character of the ogre glows brightly on the front of his head. Again, recognizing the martial arts skills, Miaka watches with hope in her eyes as the man beats the gang. As the last man falls to the ground, he turns and looks down at Miaka sitting against the wall, staring back up at the man.



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