This is a story of a girl who found the Shichiseishi of Suzaku. She obtained omnipotent power and made her wishes come true.

The story itself is an incantation. Whomever finishes reading it will receive the power. As soon as the page is turned, the story will become the truth...and begin.

“D-Double cheeseburger!” The tasty sandwich appeared at the calling of its name and hovered in mid-air, almost begging to be eaten--until a vision of a triple-scoop ice-cream cone shoved the burger out of the way. The genki female voice declaired out each scoop’s delicious flavor, “Chocolate Mint! Rum raisin! Strawberry ice!” Desert was replaced with the main course. “Nichome’s ooburan grade one! Katsumdom!” At each name’s incantation, the succulent dish materialized, set on an extravagant table. The food sparkled, invitingly, within the light.

Eyes shining, Miaka basked at the sight of her fabulous dinner. “I love them all!” She slowly spun about in mid-air, delight upon her face. The food rose from its table to orbit around her, aromas mixing to form a delicious, intoxicating mural within her nostrils. “Come to me, and let’s go! Come into my stomach!”

With a grin of anticipation, Miaka snapped her chopsticks apart. “Itadakimasu!” She laughed at the food, deftly gripped her chopsticks, and reached for a delectable dumpling...only to see the food vanish just before she could claim it.

"Eh?" Miaka turned about in dismay to see all her conjured dishes disappear, one by one.

"Why?!"

A deep male voice growled, echoing from a bright light that suddenly cut through the darkness, “Give up, Yuuki Miaka.”.

A second voice, even more condemming than the first, growled out, "A ninth-grade candidate for the high school exam has no time to eat."

"Yes, you need to study," a third light commanded with iron.

The lights solidified, conjealing into the craggy faces of male teachers from every student's nightmares. "Let's study."

"X^2 times X^4 equals--"

"Who is the author of Tsurezuregusa?"

Without warning, a new and impossibly more ominous voice appeared from deep withing the black. It resonated in Miaka’s overwhelmed ears. Even worse, this one spoke in English. "'I want him to do his best.' Translate."

Pillowed atop her school desk, Miaka's face grimaced.

"Answer me, Yuuki!" the man commanded, scowling down at her sleeping form. His scathing voice was thick with irritation.

Miaka reacted instinctively. She leaped upright, screaming in anger, "RETURN MY FOOD!!!"

“Miaka?” a calm, female voice spoke. Her soothing words pierced Miaka’s raged, half-awake mind. The girl froze, her heart pounding from her horrible nightmare.

“Who did you just clobber with your desk?” The speaker’s brown eyes innocently blinked once.

Staring in horror, her desk still held aloft above her head, Miaka gasped with dread when she realized the identity of her victim, Sen…sei." Her poor teacher was trembling with pain, bent over backwards, and balanced on his right leg. His English textbook dangled from one hand, barely within his grasp. Around them, Miaka’s classmates gaped in horror and shock.

"Bingo," her friend, Yui, replied with candor.

A single tear of pain threatened to fall from the corner of her sensei's eye. "Yuuki," he managed to gasp.

"Hai?" Miaka answered with dread.

"Go to the hallway." The man finally gave into gravity and fell to the floor with a condemming, final crash.

“’I want him to do his best.’ How is this translated?” the English lesson continued uninterrupted. Outside the class, Miaka’s arms trembled under the weight of her desk, held aloft over her head in lieu of the usual bucket of water. Revenge was sweet, and most appropriate.

*******

The ringing of the bells echoed across the school grounds, heralding the end of another school day. Back inside her classroom, Miaka slowly stretched and massaged her tired arms. “Oh, that wore me out!” she moaned.

Yui cheerfully called over to her across the room, “Miaka, I’ll leave you behind!” She smiled, her face playful under her short, blond hair.

“Wait up!” Miaka forgot her pain and snatched up her school bag to run after Yui.

*******

“Damn. A high school entrance exam candidate sleeping,” one of Miaka’s friends chastised her, almost ashamed of her careless friend. “You can’t pass the Yatsubadai High exams like that.”

Miaka effortlessly dismissed her concerns. “I’m not taking the Yatsubadai exams,” she brightly replied around her after-school snack.

"Ehhh? Which one, then?"

"Jonan!"

"Nani?!???" her two friends exclaimed in shock, eyes wide.

The first demanded with evident disbelief, “Jonan? Jonan Academy?”

"You're not enrolling in an electric store, you know!" the second one pointed out.

"Where are your brains?"

"Have you and Yui-chan discussed this?"

"You're going to be taking the same exam, but you're nowhere alike in the academic area!"

Yui had silently listening throughout the unexpected revelation. She spoke as she reached for her train pass. “That’s right, I’m a genius, and you’re just stupid.” She grinned.

Crushed, Miaka whimpered, "Are you really my best friend?"

Yui gave a low chuckle, proving her words to be merely in jest. “Yep. I think so.”

The four girls parted ways in the train station, Yui and Miaka boarding the same car together. "Miaka, come with me," Yui invited.

"Where?"

"To the National Library."

Delighted to accompany her friend, Miaka answered with a big smile, “Oh, you’re one of a kind! Hongo Yui, the best student in school, hangs around in such unusual places!”

*******

Miaka leaned back and looked up at the immense brick face of the National Library. The windows were dark, and only the barest ominous glint of the interior could be glimpsed through the musty panes. "Wow. It's so…" Miaka trailed off, unable to find words heavy enough to describe the bleak building in front of her. "Does the National Library belong to the nation?"

Yui walked inside the double doors, deciding not to dignify Miaka's question with a reaction.

"Hey, I'm just joking!" Miaka yelled after her. "Why didn't you say anything?" she complained as she ran to catch up to her friend. She stopped just inside the doors and looked from side to side.

Pausing, Yui turned and held up the blue book in her hand. "I'm just going to return this book," she said with a smile over her shoulder.

Miaka gave her a strained smile in return, sweat drop prominent. "Could you hurry?" Left to her own devices, she worriedly looked about the vast entryway. "The word 'national' makes me nervous." She suddenly grew determined to lighten the atmosphere.  "Cheer up, Japanese citizens!" she shouted out into the lobby. The words echoed through the huge room without reaction.

Miaka glanced to her right and spied a row of vending machines, tucked against the wall in a dim hallway that let away from the lobby. "Oh, they sell juice here!" she shouted with delight. She walked over to the machines and berated herself in a low voice, wondering who heard her exclamation. "What am I thinking? They sell juice everywhere."

She stopped in front of the machine and grubbed in the pocket of her khaki school uniform for change. "Let's see….oh!" One of her coins escaped her grasp and slipped away. It spun through the air, landed on the tile floor with a loud clink, and slowly revolved to a noisy standstill.

"Oh geeez." Miaka bent over to retrieve the money. Behind her, an enormous red bird appeared and let out a shrill, trembling cry. It lifted itself into the air with one great beat of its blood-red wings, feathers flying from the crest at the top of its head.   With a gasp, Miaka turned and stared wide-eyed at the sight.

"Nani?" Miaka whispered as the bird disappeared.

Small globes of red light floated towards her from the top of a dark stairwell, that led up and away from the vending hall. Miaka gaped up its length for a long moment. She slowly took one step up the stairs, then another, her school bag forgotten on the floor behind her.

The sounds of Miaka’s black leather shoes tapping the cold tiles echoed in the heavy silence when she topped the stairs. An immense wooden door dominated the end of the dim hall. It seemed steeped in its own importance, and was capped by stolid sign, hung at eye level upon the wood.

"Important Documents Reference Room," Miaka read in a curious voice. The sign placed to the left of the door, 'Employees Only', escaped her notice. She studied the door, then started when a strange sound cut through the air.  That's the sound of something fluttering, coming from behind the door!  Bird's wings, or a book's pages being turned by the wind? She stared at the door until the quiet click of the lock releasing made her reach for the knob. She clasped it in her hand, slowly turned, and found with astonishment that the door opened.

Miaka cautiously peeked her head inside the dark room. It was dim, and made the hallway where she stood seem blindingly light in comparison. The room was filled with rows and rows of books. The volumes were arranged on shelves against all four walls, and on one stand-alone set of shelves that ran down the length of the room. The dusty, cloying scent of old paper permeated the air and washed over Miaka’s inexperienced nose. She slowly stepped inside.

"Miaka?"

Busted, the trespasser cringed.

"What are you doing in here?" Yui worriedly asked her, framed in the doorway.

******

"A bird?" Yui laughed.

"Yes," Miaka insisted. "I heard the sound of wings flapping."

"Why would a bird be in a place like this?"

Her reply was cut short by the heavy plunk of a book falling from its place on the shelf to the floor. Miaka gasped and turned to stare at it in shock.

*******

Kneeling on the floor, Yui and Miaka held the book between them.

"Shijintenchisho..." Yui read the title with curiosity.

"What's that?"

"It's an ancient Chinese novel."

"A Chinese book?"

Yui did not respond. She studied the musty pages for a moment, then began to read in a soft, serious voice. "Thus, the girl of the legend opened the door of another world."

"Sugoi!" Miaka exclaimed excitedly. "Yui-chan, you can read ancient Chinese!

Yui smiled and turned the page.  Miaka gasped with surprise at the line-ink illustration of a great phoenix.

"This is the one I saw!"

"This is a story of a girl who obtained the Seven Shichiseishi of Suzaku. She obtained omnipotent powers and made her wishes come true.  The story itself is an incantation. Those who finish reading it shall receive the power. As soon as the page is turned, the story will become the truth and begin."

Both girls sat back and looked at each other. "What does that mean?" Yui asked Miaka.

"Yui-chan, how should I know?"

Without warning, an intense read light gleamed forth from the book's ancient pages. The two helpless girls screamed as the illumination encompassed them, their eyes blinded by light; their ears and minds filled with the intense sound of the great bird calling.

*******

Yui slowly sat up and asked in a weak voice, "What happened?"

"Yui-chan, are you okay?" Miaka asked, pushing herself up into a sitting position. It took a moment for her to realize that her hand rested, not on tile, but on rocks and dirt.  And the air no longer smelled of dust and books, but of arid land.   Miaka gasped, snapped her head up, and slowly looked about. The stuffy, dim room was gone. Instead, a vast open plain surrounded them, broken by small ravines.   Scrubby trees were scattered over the rough, unappealing landscape. Mountains shimmered on the far-off horizon, and the sky gleamed an intensely clean blue.

"Where are we?" Yui softly asked in disbelief.

"Yuiiiiii," Miaka whimpered and clutched at her friend's arm.

Yui slammed her left elbow on the top of Miaka's head and asked with wide, innocent eyes, "Did that hurt?"

"That hurt plenty!!!" Miaka screamed as she nailed Yui's jaw with a right uppercut.

"Itaaaaaaaiii..." Yui groaned. "That hurt too much for this to be a dream."

Her fists clenched, Miaka's body trembled with intense emotion, her back to Yui. The horrible realization had finally hit home.  "Whether it's a dream or not….there are no double burgers, and no nut and raisin-topped ice cream!" she wailed in despair.

"Is that the only thing you worry about?" Yui yelled at her.

"There's no Nichome Obraan!" Miaka futilely waved her arms in the air and turned to her friend, eyes clenched tightly closed with the hopelessness of it all. "What am I going to do, Yui-chan? Yu--" Miaka opened her eyes to gape at two rough-looking men behind her friend. One had Yui clamped to him with an arm around her neck. "Yui-chan!"

"Miaka!" Yui managed to garble out in fear, struggling with her oversized captor.

"This one's good," one of the men sneered. "If we sell her, she'll bring us lots of money."

Miaka stared at the men. What? Who are they? she thought in wonderment, taking in their strange, costume-like clothing. "Are you old men members of a Chinese dancing team?" Visions of the men dancing with Yui-chan to bouncy music flashed through her mind.

"Moron!" the bearded leader yelled. "We traffic in girls!"

"Ehhhhhhhhh?!" Miaka gasped in shock.

The man who had Yui clamped to his front smiled to himself. "How's that? Surprised?" he asked with utter self-confidence.

In answer, Miaka charged the man, teeth bared, screaming in anger. She slammed into his middle head-first, knocking Yui free and sending him sprawling backwards onto the ground. Miaka tumbled over him and rolled flat onto the hard soil.

"Miaka!"

"Yui-chan! Run for it!"

"If you're not nice….!" The leader drew his sword with a snarl and leaned back to strike, , when a second hand clamped around his wrist and forcibly twisted the slaver's arm behind his back.

Gray eyes quietly narrowed with steely determination. "Quit."

"You son of a bitch!" the slaver gasped out in pained anger to the man behind him. The gray-eyed stranger turned with disdain to watch the man's partner draw his sword and charge him with a yell. He slammed an elbow into the running man's face, leaped up, and laid into the pair.

Miaka and Yui held each other's hands, kneeling upon the ground, and stared open-mouthed at the fight before them. The stranger was a blur of motion; fists, legs, and feet flying to solidly impact the two slavers. Miaka could only blink and continue watching. "Who is this?"

The stranger fought with a wild smile, his blue hair flying. "On his forehead…there's a kanji!" The symbol glowed an eerie red, its jagged form shining impossibly from his skin.

He hurled both men away. They slammed into the ground, the leader clutching his arm and exclaiming in pain. "Brother!" The other called to the leader. "Let's get out of here!" They quickly heeded their own advice.

Miaka and Yui watched them run away in shock.

"Ladies," The stranger turned and smiled down at them; his handsome face filled their vision. "You all right?"

"Th-thank you very much!" Yui breathlessly stammered, eyes shining.

He crouched down to eye-level in front of them and cheerfully held out his hard. "Money's a better way to show your appreciation," he brightly stated.

"Huh?" both girls asked in amazement.

"Don't tell me." He leaned back in disappointment. "You mean you ladies are penniless?" He eyed them with disgust and stood up again. "Don't you know money dominates the world? It's too much of a luxury to help the destitute."

Insulted, Yui's eyes narrowed as he walked away. She stood up herself and ran after him. "You helped us on your own!" she snapped.

Behind them, still on her knees in the dirt, Miaka grubbed about in her pockets.   "I think I have a little money."

He did not turn around or stop walking.  "I hate poor people," the man joked, waving goodbye with one hand in the air. Ja ne."

"Hold it!" Yui ran a few steps after him and stopped, fists clenched. "Wait, will you?! Where are we?!" Her questions were cut off with an astonished gasp. Yui stared at the ground beneath her, swirling with red light. "This is...the same red light," Yui whispered in realization. She tried to turn,  but her body was quickly absorbed by the bloody hue. The light swallowed her and her voice down into the depths. "MIAKAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa....!"

"Tada!" Miaka brandished a 1000 yen note. She cheerfully turned and held it out. "Here it is!" She paused and looked about. "Yui-chan?"

The breeze was her only reply .

"Hey, where are you? Yui-chan! Yui-chaaaaaaan!"

*******

"Miaka. Miaka?" Yui whispered as she looked about. The library's forbidden room was dark, and Yui was alone. "Miaka!" She turned and ran a short distance, looking down the second aisle of musty books. "Miaka!" she yelled, her hands cupped around her mouth. She waited, tensely, for the answer she feared would not come.

Yui's gaze fell down to the open book, Shijintenchisho. Her knees bent, and she dropped to the floor in front of it. Leaning forward, she read with quiet detachment.

"The girl tried to help her friend from the kidnapers, then a man with the sign of the Oni on his forehead appeared. He helped them."

Yui's eyes widened. "The sign of the Oni on his forehead?" She leaned back and picked up the book to stare down at its pages.

"Why? How can this be?"

On the right page underneath her fingers, there was another simple illustration. Its lines depicted a man, dressed as the stranger had been, fighting another.

"It's not a dream," Yui whispered, focusing on the man's image. On his forehead, a kanji shone in black ink.

This summary is based on the translation by Karen Duffy and Yamazaki Masatomo. Used with permission. Adaptation by Sailor Two Moons on 11-10-98. Chapter One: Part I last tweaked on 11-15-01, when I tweaked links to bypass the problematic code.