Because Aerith herself clarifies her liking as specifically not romantic that very same chapter.
Either way, it's clear the word is used with great ambiguity here and, clearly, the viewer is left with a different impression of the word than Zack.
And it's there Zack waits, knowing Aerith will come wearing pink as she promised. The flowers of reunion surround this scene and ZA as a whole - for instance adorning their Valentine's Day profile with it - ZA will yet be together again, in part 3, and it will happen right there.
And it's not just the events before Rebirth, it's after too! In ACC we see Zack's Buster Sword resting in the church and Aerith's flowers on Zack's grave. It's where ZA joke about adopting Cloud and then they both walk off into the light, together always. It's their place...
Nojima writes that, during the two years of ZA dating that it's the place Zack would come for healing. TWO YEARS of meeting each other there. It's where they met, fell in love, even went into business together. How could it be CAs when Cloud is there for a few minutes and done?
The usage of quotation marks around "our place", coupled with Cloud's confusion about where Aerith is referencing - and the scene panning IMMEDIATELY to Zack waiting for Aerith by the Church - only further reinforces what was made clear in Crisis Core: it's her place with ZACK 🧵
FF7 is a compilation and Crisis Core is canon to it. Thanks for backing up my point though.
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Aerith's feelings for Cloud ARE legitimate, but they aren't love. See her reaction here translated from the Japanese. She does like Cloud, but she likes many things.
This comes directly to answer Marlene.
It's closure.
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1. NPTK is about everyone she loved.
2. There is no such character as "Aeris"
3. Aerith tells Cloud she doesn't love him
4. I was at the Rebirth orchestra and Zack was everywhere
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Nothing goes right, Cloud is uninterested (and unable to play the role, such as knowing where "their place" is) everyone is negative, the people repeatedly mention that CA ain't it. This is Aerith's emotions confirming what she already knew - only Z can fit the hole in her heart
By the end of the journey, the very next day after telling Cloud to his face that she still loves Zack, the stage is set for closure.
The "dream date" - a Zack chapter - tests the waters with Cloud by outright duplicating the date from CC. Except it's not the same...
She refuses to accept the cruel reality that the person she loves is gone and naturally protects herself from the impact of the grief.
When Cloud shows up in that same way it just...feeds that feeling from Aerith so much - just as she feeds his SOLDIER/bodyguard delusion in turn
But this is precisely why Aerith is such an incredible character. She's the last cetra, she has a connection to the planet and LS (she even sensed Elmyra's husband dying despite never meeting him) but she's a human girl with real emotions like pain, grief and yes, denial...
But wait, did she not know Zack was dead? The ending of CC, her admission through baited teeth of hating the sky at the end of Remake (because it took away Zack and Ilfana)? She even feels his touch from the Lifestream in Rebirth.
What gives? ...
