Kyoichi Katayama's "Socrates in Love" depicts a sweet high school romance between an average guy and a beautiful girl. Sakutaro is a dry-witted teenage boy--precocious and slightly sarcastic, he's the perfect counter-part to Aki, a popular girl-next-door type. The two meet in junior high, and puppy love slowly blooms into a more serious relationship. But tragedy ensures when Aki falls ill with leukemia, and Sakutaro proves his love to be true enough to test the bounds between life and death. "Socrates in Love" is a bittersweet journey of young love, enduring devotion, and heartbreaking loss. Affectionately known in Japan as "Sekachu" (short for "Sekai no Chushin de Ai wo Sakebu"), the incredible popularity of Katayama's novel developed into a social phenomenon in Japan and drove it to become one of the classic love stories of all time. Socrates in Love took the Japanese publishing industry by storm, becoming the all-time best-selling novel in Japan Finally, U.S. readers will be able to experience the phenomenon that became the inspiration for a blockbuster movie, a hit TV show, and a popular manga. A national sensation that touched over three million readers, Kyoichi Katayama brought innocent love and romance to the forefront of Japan's ultra-hip mass market.