The Twelve Kingdoms is a parallel world that exists on the edge of our reality. In this world, a bizarre mixture of Chinese mythology, the ideas of Confucius and Lao Tzu, children are born from the fruits of sacred trees, youma demons prowl in the darkness of the night, and the power of the ruler is unshakable, because it is sanctified by heaven, and in the literal sense of this expression - the one who Whoever is chosen by the sacred beast Kirin gains divine power and eternal life. Gods, monsters, sennin, beastmen, beast demons are commonplace here, and the Will of Heaven (as well as Heavenly Punishment) is obvious and inevitable. In this strange world, from time to time, aliens appear who do not know the language and laws - kaikyaku (who came from the sea ) and sankyaku (who came from the mountains). The Kaikyaku call their homeland Japan, and the Sankyaku call their homeland China. One of these aliens had to become Yoko Nakajima, an ordinary Japanese high school student, one of the main characters in this story.