The latest in the Boss Fight Books series, available tomorrow, is Kingdom Hearts II by veteran games writer Alexa Ray Corriea. In the exclusive chapter excerpt below, she discusses one of the most intriguing aspects of the Square-Disney crossover’s plot: eschewing boy-girl romance in favor of themes of male intimacy. When I played Kingdom Hearts II for the first time, one moment stuck with me above all else. Before the final string of boss battles, after reuniting with Kairi—a brief hug and the murmured words “this is real”—Sora prepares to continue his trek through The World That Never Was to find Xemnas. Ansem, tall and ominous in his black coat, watches this exchange from a dozen feet away. Silently, he turns and begins to walk away, only for Kairi to run after him and demand, “Riku, don’t go.” At this point in the game, the player knows that Riku has taken on the visual appearance of Ansem, the main antagonist of the first Kingdom Hearts. After being possessed by Ansem, Riku retained part of his darkness, and leading up to this moment has been learning how to harness that power without becoming evil. Sora spends every free moment he has…