I Fell In Love With Hope Summary & Quotes (2024)

I Fell in Love With Hope by Lancali is an angsty story following the narrative of five terminally ill children with a low survival rate. These five struggle in their own way: one with an eating disorder, one with a damaged lung, one with self-harm, and one with heart problems. They’re too young to be facing such horrors, but does this mean they should abandon hope?

Throughout the story, we see them living life, finding happiness in between moments, finding love, and fighting their illness.

The story begins with Sam reminiscing over his past lover, who killed himself right in front of his eyes. That day haunts Sam, and he is still terrified of falling in love again. That’s when he meets Hikari. She resembles his lost lover in many ways, with her bright yellow hair and her even brighter personality.

Sam is drawn like a moth to a flame, but he knows better now. They keep their distance, therefore. Slowly, as the story accelerates, we see illness taking over the happy group. Taking away everyone. Neo, Coeur, Hikari, and Sony are all in the chokehold of disease. Will they make it out? Is it even worth holding on to hope? What is the point of hope when death is inevitable?

The story begins with glimpses of Sam’s past. The day his lover killed himself in a hailstorm. That day still haunts Sam, strengthening his resolve to never fall in love again. One day Sony, Sam, Neo, and Coeur were out of the hospital as an act of rebellion, and that’s when Sam saw Hikari. There was a streak of yellow hair among the crowd. We also see Sam’s memory of befriending a reluctant Neo, an eccentric Sony, and a polite Coeur.

In between the happy moments, sadness seeped in when Neo’s father came to visit and left a bruised Neo behind. Coeur was Neo’s only gleam of light. The boy he fell in love with in literature class.

When Neo meets Coeur in the hospital, they aren’t on speaking terms. As Neo remembers the day, some boys at school harassed him, but what hurt was Coeur walking away from the scene, not uttering a single word. Neo’s health deteriorated from that day on, and he never went to school again. Soon after, Coeur is admitted to the same hospital and does everything to get Neo’s forgiveness. Eventually, they do find their way toward each other.

Meanwhile, Sam tries his best to stay at a distance from Hikari. He doesn’t want history to repeat itself. With many ups and downs, Sam and Hikari find their way toward each other. 

Moving further, they all finally execute their plan of escaping the hospital. They head out in Coeur’s car to the beach. It was the best day of their lives, with lots of great memories. The next morning, they woke up to Sony coughing blood. They take her to the hospital, but she doesn’t make it. Sony dies. The familiar ache of loss takes over, taking away their lively friend.  

The day of Coeur’s heart transplant arrives. The survival rate is low. He sobs in Neo’s arm and promises to kiss him after the surgery. However, the promise remains unfulfilled as Coeur doesn’t make it out of the surgery room. Now Neo has no one to hold onto. He commits suicide by starving himself and joining Coeur and Sony. Hikari experiences the great pain of losing all of her friends. She falls into darkness. But Sam is determined to save her. Save his love this time. 

I Fell in Love With Hope Ending Explained

With Sam’s assistance and love, Hikari makes it out of the darkness, and now she is to be discharged. But Sam can’t accompany her because he isn’t human. He is a creation of the hospital’s spirit. After watching people die for decades, he was born, like magic. He cannot leave the hospital for too long. He is bound to the place; his life purpose is to save anyone he can. He isn’t a human; he doesn’t age.

He has been there for decades, so he could save anyone or everyone. Now and then, he meets his soulmate in a different form. One time he lost his love, the other time he saved her. Hikari is shocked but accepts his reality and promises to meet him in another life.