we shall go together

She also wore a black bikini top tied behind her neck with a cute purple tankini wrap thing layered over it and knotted neatly at the bust, and he felt his face flushing as his eyes were drawn to…to her enchanted necklace! Yeah, that was it. Sure was nice of Aqua to do that for her so she could wear it every day, right in that same spot between her—

Ahem. Good for Aqua for doing something so thoughtful, honestly.

Kairi greeted him and gave him an amused look as she leaned down to adjust one of the cute wedge sandals she wore. On her hand she wore a couple of layered bracelets, and a floral print purple sarong was wrapped around her waist. He noticed that anklet he’d gotten for her a few weeks ago on her right ankle, and his heart melted into a puddle.

“What do you want to order?” she asked sweetly as she straightened. “My treat this time.”

He sat next to her. “Paopu juice, please,” he told the stall owner, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kairi checking him out. He wore his usual sandals and swim trunks, plus a lightweight, loose fitting jacket to protect himself somewhat from the hot sun. But it was unzipped, and he couldn’t help but grin as her eyes roamed over his chest and abs.

He might’ve been a lazy bum in the past, but he didn't get those muscles without working for them, and yeah, sue him, it was nice that his girlfriend was noticing. Noticing and appreciating. He grinned and winked at her, and she did that cute thing where she ducked her head and blushed and bit her lip.

She was adorable when she was flustered, and he loved teasing her about it just as much as she loved teasing him.

The stall owner handed him his paopu juice, and as its tangy sweet taste hit his mouth, he could've sworn his taste buds sang. His eyes fluttered shut, and he sighed happily. This was the best. Man, had he missed home and all the little pleasures it had to offer.

When he opened his eyes again, Kairi was staring at him with a flush on her cheeks and a soft smile on her face.

He tilted his head. “What is it?” He’d just drunk some paopu juice, he wasn't sure what was so charming or interesting about that.

She playfully shoved his arm. “You! You’re so happy. It’s so different from how you were in Quadratum.”

He caught her hand and grinned. “Well yeah. You’re here, and that means I’m home.”

Her face turned scarlet and she made this adorable squawking noise, and he couldn’t resist the urge to tease her.

Leaning close, he noticed her sharp intake of breath, and a thrill of pleasure went down his spine. He murmured in her ear, “Might wanna put some sunscreen on, Kairi, you're awfully red.”

Her jaw dropped indignantly, and he grinned, then slammed his paopu juice down and took off running. Kairi was hot on his heels, and he was certain that if there weren't a bunch of other people around, she would've summoned her Keyblade and caught him with a Stop spell. It was impressive as it was how fast she could run in those wedge sandals. She’d managed to shed the sarong at some point too so she could run more easily, leaving her in this cute ruffled swimsuit miniskirt thing that matched the tankini wrap over her bikini.

As it turned out, he tripped over a sandcastle when he was glancing back at her and fell. By the time he rolled over onto his back to get up, she had straddled him and pinned his arms to his sides.

Dang, she’d gotten faster in her training. A lot faster. He guessed he had Aqua to thank for that, too.

She leaned over him, a smirk on her face. “You wanna say that again, Sora?” His eyes went to her chest again, and suddenly he was very aware of every place Kairi’s body was coming into contact with his. It was like she had set his body on fire, but the flames didn't burn, just made him want more than he dared ask. Much more.

Her smirk got even bigger as she saw how flustered this was making him. “Now who’s all red?” she playfully teased.

That was the great and terrible thing about teasing Kairi. She could dish it out just as good as he could, if not better. And surely this was disproportionate retribution, right?

She leaned down as if she was about to kiss him, which made his heart race, but instead her soft lips lingered near his ear, her breath warm and ticklish, and she started murmuring a playful warning about—

“Kairi!” His jaw was the one that dropped indignantly this time. He couldn’t believe what she’d just said. She smiled sweetly as she extracted herself from him and offered him a hand up.

“I don't think I'm the only one who needs to worry about that,” he muttered as he stood with her help, a big pout on his face.

She grinned and ducked her head. “You’re not, no.”

Their eyes met, and this time, both their faces were very red. He wished with all his heart they were alone. Wished they were older. Wished no one would give them grief over fully acting on their feelings. Kisses were great, but with each one, he just wanted more.

They brushed gritty clumps of sand off each other and walked back to the stall, where the very amused owner was still holding onto their drinks for them. They chatted about everything and nothing with him and the other customers as they enjoyed their drinks, said hi to Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie when they stopped by, and challenged Riku to a game of keepaway. Then everyone enjoyed a round of swimming in the sea together. It was a great way to spend a lazy summer afternoon, but Sora wanted to be with Kairi alone again.

He’d wanted to be alone with her a lot lately. It was like they'd never get enough time together, just the two of them. It was this strange ache radiating deep inside him that made his insides twist and his heart hurt, and her teasing on the beach today had only made it worse.

But it was dinnertime now, and their parents would be expecting them home soon. Still, he could actually do something about what he was feeling this time. As everyone was cleaning up from the day at the beach, he pulled Kairi aside.

“Meet me by the docks after dark,” he murmured so low he was certain no one else would hear him. “Wear your swimsuit, but bring something to keep you warm.”

He had something extra special planned that he'd been cooking in his mind all afternoon.

She smiled and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “A secret rendezvous, huh? I’ll be there, and I’ll bring snacks.”

He squeezed her hand. “You’re the best.”

The sun sank low over the waves, and he could hardly wait to see her again. At least now it was practically guaranteed he would. For so long, for far too long, that hadn't been the case, and his heart ached over that, too.

That was the cost of loving someone. But it was a cost he was willing to pay if it meant even one more moment spent with her.

🏝️ 🍹 ☀️ 🐚 ⛱️

A/N: Thank you so much for reading, and Happy SoKai Week! 🥳 A big thank you to Wiavi for doing the promo art this year, which was the inspiration behind Sora and Kairi’s outfits and the setting for this chapter. A big thank you to Liv and Alja as well for providing me with feedback ❤️

This story is three chapters in total and covers a lot of the prompts for the event this year (today’s were summer sweets, treats, and fashion, sunlit seashores, and summer sports), though they're not in order, and the final chapter especially is based on the poll where you all voted for me to write about SoKai sharing a moonlit swim and then stargazing together 🌙 🌌 I also snuck in multiple Rodgers and Hammerstein song references throughout the story—feel free to let me know if you find any of them! 👀 ✨

There was only really dialogue at the beginning of the trailer, and they didn't have captions for the Japanese version, so I listened and transcribed it myself. Instead of breaking it down by each line, I'm just going to include it all together:

JP この世界の構造はとても複雑で　私たちが定義する光と闇を具現化したものを　存在しなかった

でも　それを定義するものが　この世界に来たことで　この世界にも　私たちの定義する闇が現れた

EN The structure of this world is incredibly complex. At first, there were no manifestations of what we know as light and darkness. But our arrival here brought these concepts with us—the darkness given physical form only after we defined it.

TR The construction/makeup/framework/organization/pattern/structure of this world is very complex/complicated/intricate. The embodiment/realization/materialization of light and darkness that we define didn’t exist. But, by that thing that defines it coming to this world, in this world too, the darkness that we define appeared/became visible/became embodied/materialized.

Notes: At first I thought Strelitzia was the character saying these lines, but then I saw people discussing it and wondering if it might actually be Ava. There is a character shown wearing a black coat while these lines are being spoken, and the silhouette very much looks like a girl or woman:

In all the other footage we've seen of Strelitzia, she has been wearing her normal outfit, so I agree this could be someone else. I went back to the first KH4 trailer where Strelitzia is confirmed to be speaking, and her voice does sound higher pitched and “cutesier” to me for lack of a better description than the person speaking here, and when I watched a little bit of Back Cover in Japanese, I did think Ava’s voice matched the the person speaking here a little better, but I’d have to listen multiple times to really make up my mind.

Anyway, continuing on.

The Japanese word translated as “structure” in the official English version, kōzō, can also be translated as “construction, makeup, framework, organization, pattern.” Screenshot is from the app imiwa?

I thought this was interesting because one of Sora’s new abilities, Build, is related to, well, building and constructing things. And I thought the wording for this sentence was really interesting in both languages as well, because to me it kinda sounds like Quadratum is artificially constructed by an outside force? I mean we don't go around talking about the “structure” of our world. So this perhaps ties into the Unreality concept, and it makes me wonder who or what created Quadratum if I'm right about this.

A word that repeats several times in this dialogue is tēgi, “definition,” and the speaker continually uses this word to emphasize that the people who came from the main Kingdom Hearts universe (I presume that's who she means, anyway) define the light and darkness and brought this darkness into being in Quadratum. In the official English version, this single word and its verb are translated as “what we know,” “these concepts,” and “defined.” I just always think back to that Shakespeare quote from Hamlet that showed up in the Versus 13 trailer, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” It sounds like thoughts are powerful enough to create things in Quadratum, at least from the outsiders coming from the main KH universe. It also reminds me of that island in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader where your nightmares come true. Your mind makes it real and all that Matrix references yay.

I also wonder if both the denizens of Quadratum and the outsiders believe it's the outsiders’ responsibility to fix this if Quadratum was peaceful before, and I wonder who the first person from the main KH universe was who was sent to Quadratum. Probably the Master of Masters…

I see black feathers and instantly think Sephiroth?? Lol. But I think this is the Master of Masters.

Another important word in the dialogue is gugenka, or “embodiment, realization, materialization” according to imiwa? I also found a Japanese source that talked about the meaning and usage of the word, and they define it as “giving concrete, tangible form to ideas/concepts/thoughts or ideals.” So, darkness becoming concrete in Quadratum. Now, one of the kanji in gugenka, 現, also appears at the very end of the dialogue in the word awareta. Awareta is the past tense of awareru, which means “to appear, to come in sight, to become visible, to come out, to embody, to materialize.” So these words are conceptually linked in Japanese, and the official English version translates them as “manifestation” and “physical form.”

That about covers the linguistic nerdery lol. Time to cover some other details I noticed:

I'm pretty sure the person (presumably a girl) in this image is perched on top of the 104 building above the Scramble Crossing.

The Darksides look freakier than ever, I mean this would be horrifying to run across in real life lol.

Also, Sora’s combat in this first battle is giving me serious Spider-Man vibes:

He’s got a watch now!

This screenshot just looked really cool:

POV: You're a Heartless, and you're about to get your ass handed to you by a very angry 16 year-old who can move ridiculously fast:

Also, I lied, I have one last bit of linguistic nerdery: is that the writing system for Quadratum in that ad in the background? 👀

Continuing on. Sora: gets thrown through a window, manages to turn it into a handspring and land on his feet. Also, the Spider-Man vibes continue:

Strelitzia looks downright stunning, seriously she has never looked so gorgeous, and other people are speculating and I would agree that this is Sigurd, looking very out of place in the modern setting and also like a pompous ass lol:

I think this is a Dark Road character based on the buzz I've been seeing on Twitter, probably Vali, and then Luxord:

More footage of Donald and Goofy running into Hades lol:

And then Young Xehanort offering Sora a broken umbrella:

My friends and I were joking about how that conversation might've gone if Sora was in full sass mode:

Sora: I must be in hell after all, since you're here. That's the cheapest umbrella I’ve ever seen, and it's broken. Xehanort: It's the thought that counts, Sora. (heheh geddit because thoughts become real in Quadratum heh—I'll see myself out now)

Anyway, moving on. Sora’s flexibility in these screenshots is sending me. Also, a new Keyblade? Moana world confirmed? Lilo and Stitch world? Elemental?

Sora’s shoes are glowing yellow here, I'm guessing this is some kind of form change:

The guy screaming in the background is sending me. He's just like me fr. Also, once again, Sora runs towards the danger to protect other people, he's such a good person. A hero, if you will:

This part also gave me Spider-Man vibes. Also, I noticed they are still not letting Sora talk. He's using battle grunts etc., but we still haven't heard a single word of dialogue from him for this game. Interesting…

The English trailer is here.