Sky of Love

With nothing much to do in Los Angeles and feeling a fever coming up, I decided to stay in and catch a movie on my laptop. After reading several synopsis of several movies, I decided to go with a Japanese movie titled - Koizora. At first, it was a little slow moving and I was starting to get bored, so I turned it off. But something was nagging at me, so I typed in the title name of the movie into the search bar and read the reviews, I was surprised by the raving reviews of the movie and decided to give it a second chance. Boy... was I glad that I did. As usual, being a crybaby, my tears were streaming non-stop.

Koizora also known as Sky of Love (恋空) is a love story between two teenagers - an innocent black-haired girl, Mika and a silver-haired punk, Hiro. It started out when Mika lost her cell phone and found it in the school library. The stranger who helped to retrieve her phone deleted all the phone numbers on her cell phone citing that if the these people are keen to find her, they would call her which I can't help but agree as I have the habit of clearing contacts stored in my phone too, keeping only those whom I know would call. 

Unconsciously, Mika and the stranger contacts one another without fail every day, Mika grew curious of the identity of the caller at the other end. And it was decided that they would meet at the school swimming pool before the start of the new term. Upon seeing Hiro, Mika was surprised and reluctant to accept the fact that this silver-haired punk was the gentle caller whom she spoke to every single day but Hiro seems to win her over time after time in his own way and it was inevitable that they became one. Hiro's ex-girlfriend, Saki, was unable to accept the way things were going hired thugs which led to the rape of Mika. Hiro was distraught at his inability to protect his love and sought revenge. As gossips spread like wild fire in school, Hiro stood by Mika and carried her through.

One day, Mika surprised Hiro with the news of her pregnancy in a cafe, Hiro ran off without a word leaving Mika all alone. Mika waited but eventually decided to leave, as she was about to walk out of the cafe, a panting but happy Hiro rushed in with a gift congratulating and asking her to keep the baby. Rings were bought, they decided it was time to meet the parents, Hiro's parents were easy to persuade but Mika's were reluctant to accept Hiro. Hiro decided to quit school and find work which led to the appearance of Saki again, Saki demanded the reason behind Hiro quitting school from Mika which resulted in Mika falling off the stairs. The consequences of the fall came  when Mika and Hiro were out on Christmas Eve, Mika doubled in pain and the baby was lost. Mika and Hiro decided that every Christmas Eve, they would visit the place where Hiro once planted the flowers intended for Mika, this place was to be the memory of their lost baby.

Out of the blue, Hiro decided to break up with Mika which left her puzzled, disappointed and hurt, promising herself never to fall in love again since separation would hurt so much. As time passes, Mika found love once again, a man who was gentle and loving, promising to always come back to her like the sea, unlike Hiro who was like the river, taking everything with him and always forward-moving. On the day of graduation, Mika went to the library, a place full of their memories and wrote on the chalkboard found inside:

"Were you ever happy?"

And her question was answered.

"I was once very happy."

But she had to say goodbye, she went to college and hoped that time will fade the memories and remembering it only once a year on Christmas Eve. On a new Christmas Eve, she found Hiro's friend coming in his stead and that was when she found out the Hiro had cancer, the reason behind him leaving her. Her boyfriend was reluctant to let her go but knew that her heart was never really his...

Mika found Hiro in the hospital and reunited, they were happy but it was not long-lasting as Hiro's condition deteriorated, Hiro cried as he wanted more time on earth, he still had so much to do. Hiro asked Mika what happens when a person dies, Mika believes that he/she goes to Heaven there after. Hiro tells Mika that he wants to be the sky so that he could watch over her all the time. Mika smiled and joked that he would be like a stalker. And there and then, she decided that whenever she looks at the sky, she would think of Hiro. On sunny days, it would mean that Hiro is smiling, on rainy days, Hiro is crying, during sunset, Hiro is embarrassed and when night comes, Hiro would be hugging her.

The day came when Mika went to collect the photos that Hiro asked her to develop when he went for his check-up. At the same moment, Hiro was facing death in the hospital, Hiro's sister informed Mika about the situation and she tried running as fast as her legs could carry her, but she fell and the photos covered the ground, she was in every single picture, Hiro had been taking her pictures all the time. She managed to talk to Hiro through a video call, begging him to be strong and to open his eyes; which he did and requested her to smile for him before he left peacefully but reluctantly.

Hiro left Mika a diary, a distraught Mika tried to kill herself by jumping over the bridge but was prevented by the sudden appearance of two white pigeons as she was about to climb over the bridge. The diary which dropped to the ground was flipped by the wind to a page showing a hand-drawn family portrait of three, as Mika picked up the diary and flipped through, every sentence started with her name, every detail was about her, Hiro watched over her till the very end, and now, he would be watching over her forever, from the sky...