Kingdom Hearts stans are tearing all the meat off the bones from the recent Kingdom Hearts IV announcement trailer, picking it apart for any and all possible details about Sora’s upcoming adventure. There’s a bit of disappointment to go with the hype, like the painful revelation that our big-shoed hero doesn’t actually have big feet. On the positive side, however, there’s been some intrepid detective work that’s turned up some compelling results. One self-proclaimed “Square Enix fangirl” named Audrey “aitaikimochi” Lamsam has found the actual Tokyo apartment that seems to be the basis for the one in which Sora wakes up in the trailer. Now, its hefty asking price is leading many to wonder just how the keyblade master pays his rent.
In the April 10 reveal trailer, Sora wakes up in a gorgeous, minimalist apartment that looks more like an Ikea showroom than the keyblade master’s resting place. The game–or at least the sequence we see in the trailer–is set in a realm called Quadratum, which bears a close resemblance to the real-world city of Tokyo. So Aitaikimochi, a Twitch streamer and CEO of the company behind the anime merch site Aitai Kuji, dug around to see if there was a real-life basis for Sora’s apartment. There is and, to her surprise, it places Sora in one of Tokyo’s priciest neighborhoods.
“I can’t believe Sora lives in [fucking] Aoyama in Tokyo, which is one of the most expensive residential areas in Tokyo,” Aitaikimochi tweeted.
She’s not wrong. In subsequent tweets and a livestream posted the same day as the announcement, Aitaikimochi discovered that Sora probably lives in South Aoyama and pays about $2000 in rent. That’s not chump change, but perhaps the more alarming figure is this: If anyone wanted to “buy this apartment,” Aitaikimochi said it would cost roughly $1.2 million USD.
Kotaku has reached out to Aitaikimochi and Square Enix for comment.
Since this revelation, fans across social media have started wondering if Sora pays his own rent or if there’s a sugar daddy funding his heroic lifestyle. Some are jealous of the amenities, including the private balcony. Others are concerned for Sora’s wellbeing, as it appears Strelitzia may be forcing him to sleep on a stiff-looking couch. A few, myself included, are enjoying the implication that Sora nowcanonically knows what it’s like to live under capitalism, with soaring rent prices and other monetary nuisances to deal with—like taxes. But the main question on everyone’s mind is simple: How the hell does he afford it?
My guess? He’s a keyblade master! The entire world owes him for saving their sorry asses countless times. The least they can do is put him up somewhere nice. Failing that, though, munny was pretty easy to come by in Kingdom Hearts. I’m sure he just jumped a few heartless for their wallets.
