Cloud and Aerith Go On a Romantic Beach Date in Ever Crisis

Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis, an official mobile phone game, is celebrating summer with fireworks and romance – and that means Clerith! The limited-time season event “A Fireworks Nocturne: A Midsummer Night’s Dream” features a scenario where Cloud, Aerith, Barret, Tifa, Yuffie, Red XIII and Cait Sith are at Costa del Sol for a summer festival and offer to help a pair of fireworks engineers prep for an evening show. After a series of shenanigans with cactuars, the summer night gets heated on the beach.

The penultimate chapter of the story branches into three possibilities – the player can choose who Cloud arranges to watch the fireworks with between Aerith, Tifa, and Yuffie.

Tifa’s chapter is called “Fireworks from the Past” and features the pair reminiscing about watching fireworks in Nibelheim. Yuffie’s is “Fireworks of the Shinobi,” and is, unsurprisingly, a comical episode. The most romantic, by far, is “Fireworks in Sync” – which is Cloud’s date with Aerith.

Don’t believe me? Watch it below!

Aerith: Sorry I’m late! I decided to change. What do you think?
Cloud: *scratches head* …You look nice.
Aerith: What? Sorry, what did you say? I couldn’t hear you over the fireworks.
Cloud: You look nice.
Aerith: Sorry, what was that?
Cloud: Nothing, forget it. Are your ears okay?
Aerith: They’re ringing a little, but otherwise, yeah. I can barely hear what you’re saying though.
Cloud: I didn’t know it’d be this loud. I’ve never seen fireworks this close before.
Aerith: Yeah? Me neither. But as a SOLDIER, I thought you would’ve experienced everything since you’ve practically been all over the world.
Cloud: I’m still learning about a lot of things. From you too.
Aerith: Really? Like what?
Cloud: …Things.
Aerith: Okay, then name one thing I’ve taught you.
Cloud: When I’m with you, you bring out a part of me that I didn’t even know existed.
Aerith: Sorry, what as that?
Cloud: Nothing. I’ll leave it to your imagination.
Aerith: Stupid fireworks! I do love the sound, though .You can feel it with your whole body. It’s like your heartbeat is synced with the sky, the ocean, the wind…
Cloud: …Yeah.
Aerith: I want to travel the world and experience this feeling everywhere I go. Together with you and the part of yourself that you didn’t know existed.
Cloud: You heard that…?
Aerith: I’ll leave it to your imagination.
Cloud: *scratches head, and both he and Aerith look up at the sky.*

-Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis (click here to view the Japanese version.)

Hearing Cloud say “When I’m with you, you bring out a part of me that I didn’t even know existed” is absolutely swoon-worthy – it is, after all, just about the most romantic thing he has ever said. Aerith playfully pretending not to hear him compliment her only to say she wants to travel the world both with Cloud and the part of him he’s learning about with her is perhaps the perfect retort.

Fireworks have a special meaning for Cloud and Aerith. After all, since the original game, the theme during their iconic date that plays is called “Words Drowned by Fireworks.” This portion of the game hears Aeris utter her famous line, “I want to meet you” – referring to Cloud’s “true self” as he subconsciously pretends to be someone he isn’t.

The Costa del Sol date in Ever Crisis is a pretty appropriate follow-up to that sentiment, with Cloud discovering parts of himself he’s been turning away from with Aeris.

“When we were riding on the gondola, I’m sure Aerith was aware of the real me, whom I myself looked away from.”

~Cloud Strife, Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary event

Fireworks also erupt in Final Fantasy VII Remake at one of the game’s top romantic moments: when Cloud looks upon Aerith with a love-struck expression in Wall Market while she makes her grand entrance in a red dress.

In Japanese, the word for fireworks is 花火 – literally, “fire flower,” given the shape they make when they explode into the night sky. Aerith is, of course, famously a flower girl, who Cloud met while she sold flowers in the street and met again when he fell into her church flowerbed. In Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the two share a special synergy attack called… you guessed it, “Firework Blade.”

Going back to the scene in Ever Crisis‘s summer event, what’s really neat is that Aerith is the only character who received a special costume for her date with Cloud. While Tifa received a new swimsuit, it was at the very beginning of the event and was not acknowledged in-game. Aerith received her costume only during the second-half of the event, and did not put it on in-story until her date with Cloud.

And the in-game wallpaper associated with the costume?

Look how Aerith is holding someone’s hand! Who could it be? The answer is the only one wearing a brown glove on their right hand during the summer event: Cloud Strife.

With all of this, the “Fireworks in Sync” branch of the event feels like the most “canon” option, in addition to being a heartfelt and romantic moment between Cloud and Aerith.

The full event, including the scenarios with Tifa and Yuffie, can be watched here.