Kagome Kagome(1999)

Kagome Kagome

Takeuchi Masami has been kicked out of his house by his uncle after the death of his father (he seems to take it in stride, but the reader is probably correct in assuming that there is a mystery here, and almost certainly a sinister one). The meager allowance his uncle sends him is hardly enough to find a decent place to live, so at the beginning of the story we find him shacking up at his school, while his cute classmate Kagome Nishino (on whom he has a big crush, although it is not clear as yet to what extent she corresponds him) is trying to help him find an apartment.

As it turns out, she has just found the perfect one, she says, and whisks Takeuchi to a bare, unfurnished place and talks him into moving in right away -- in fact, spending that same night there, alone, and without even a futon to lie on. It turns out that she has an ulterior motive: she is heavily into the supernatural, having just formed a "paranormal research club" at their school, and the reason the apartment is so cheap is because it is said to be haunted, something she conveniently does not mention to Takeuchi, who almost dies of fright that night when all sorts of spooky things begin to happen all around him.

The following morning, at school, Kagome and a teacher who seems to be helping with the "supernatural club" decide that the thing is serious and try to enlist the help of another student, Kagome Kusaka, who, unlike the first Kagome, actually has psychic powers (being descended from a long line of priestesses), but who, also unlike the first Kagome, would rather do almost anything else, and has in fact consistently refused to join the club. On meeting Takeuchi, however, she changes her mind in a hurry, because, as she later explains to him, "there is something special about him": she takes an instant liking to him, and feels that he's the one who can rescue her from the "curse" of her powers (how, you -- and Takeuchi -- may ask? Well, it seems that a priestess must be a virgin...).