However, to her dismay, a gal-like boy in her grade, Nozomu, acquires her cell phone number and begins to call her frequently.

The horrific encounter ends with Hiro and his older sister punishing Saki and the rapists, but not long after, someone writes a provocative message on all the school chalkboards, resulting in Mika being harassed over the phone.

Despairing, Mika and Hiro build a grave for their daughter, and promise to visit annually on the day of the baby's death.

Although hurt, Mika gradually forgets about Hiro and meets a college student named Yu, who becomes sympathetic to her situation.

During a routine checkup, Hiro's condition takes a turn for the worse and he dies before Mika gets a chance to say good-bye to him.

Mika is distraught by Hiro's death and attempts suicide by jumping off a bridge, but is stopped when two white doves fly towards the sky.

She is later on seen placing a pair of blue mittens for Hiro next to the smaller, pink ones that were meant for her baby and praying for both their happiness.

[3] Joanna Mauermann of Reading Worldwide attributes the popularity of Koizora to the sensation of realism in that "they are modelled on the readers' own situation" and "[t]he strong presence of the characters, presented in dialogues and (inward) monologues, address the reader directly, and the emotional state of the main character is experienced immediately.

A grade school teacher criticized the novel for supporting the misconception in young girls that rape leads to love.

[5] The film adaptation was released on November 3, 2007, with a gross revenue of ¥3.9 billion and 3.14 million people attending the theater.

[7] Erena Mizusawa was chosen to play Mika, and Koji Seto as Hiro; there were a total of more than a thousand applicants.