Fushigi Yuugi

Miaka Yūki is a junior-high student desperate to pass the entrance exam for the illustrious Jonan High School. Her best friend, Yui Hongo is a straight 'A' genius applying for the same school, and her mother is pushing her also in an attempt to see Miaka gets the best education available, although Miaka would rather attend Yotsubadai High School and not go through all of the stress. The result is Miaka is constantly under pressure to study and attends juku (cram school) every day, when she’d rather be with her friends and eating.

While Yui is returning a book in the library, Miaka drops a coin by the food machine (in the anime). When she reaches down for it, Suzaku appears before her and leads her into the Restricted Section. As the girls go through the books, Miaka stumbles across The Universe of the Four Gods and both girls start to read. In a flash of bright red light, the two girls are then sucked into the book-world, and are saved from assault by a man with (鬼, Oni?) written on his forehead, who is later revealed to be Tamahome. Just then, Yui is sucked back into the real world and she continues reading the book to help progress the story.

Miaka, now stuck in the book, runs into a gang looking to sell her to a brothel. Tamahome steps in and helps her again, and in trying to repay him, gets them into a sticky situation with the Emperor’s men. They tried to escape the dungeon, only to come across the Emperor, Hotohori himself, who explains that they believe Miaka is the legendary Priestess of Suzaku (Suzaku no Miko), a girl from another world who will gather Konan’s Celestial Warriors and summon the phoenix god, Suzaku.

Doing so will grant her the power to grant any three wishes. Miaka decides to accept the responsibility, and already has a head-start, as Tamahome and Hotohori are two of the seven Celestial Warriors, distinguishable by characters for their respective constellations on their bodies. The third, Nuriko, is found quickly afterwards in a somewhat unconventional way. Soon Miaka and company are setting out across Konan in search of the other four warriors.

The series describes their travels and their adventures along the way to summoning Suzaku, enduring various trials along the way, both quest-driven and personal. Miaka, however, would soon discover that her greatest enemy would lie in her own best friend. Yui, who was sucked into the book after helping Miaka escape it briefly, has assumed the mantle of Kutō (or "Qu Dong" in the manga)'s priestess of Seiryū, Suzaku no Miko's deadly enemy.