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Pearl Houzuki.
Pearl Houzuki is a ray of sunshine, a bundle of joy; an optimistic inkling with a smile as bright as the sun that never wavers, even on the toughest days, or even while seeing the dark in the world, because she always seems to find the good in even that. She's a girl who sees the good in anything and everything; she's always bouncing about, never worn down, even after their longest of concerts and their most tiring of tours. She's always saying to never give up- never stop believing what you believe in, to follow your dreams, and that "anything is possible if you put your mind to it," and as much as Marina wanted to believe her dear words, she managed to find just one impossible dream of hers.
Marina Ida is smitten with Pearl. Past her seemingly tough attitude and her "cool" facade that she put on around fans, there was a sweetheart of an inkling. When she and Marina are alone together, it's difficult to believe that Pearl is the same inkling who's on all those cameras. Though she still holds a tough and cool air around her even while they're alone together, she's so, so sweet and caring. Pearl, no matter what, was always able to cheer Marina. Her grey, lonely skies turned into warm, sunny days with her, and her gloomy, clouding thoughts were swept away with a swipe of the girl's thumb against her cheek, as if she simply took an eraser to her mind and erased all the negativity from it.
And Marina was grateful for her. It wasn't rare that Marina was having a bad day; and frankly, it was fairy common, and only grew to be more regular as their contract neared its end. Soon, the two wouldn't be up every day at the crack of dawn, going to the studio and reporting all of the news on live TV for all Inkfish to see. And even if Pearl always insisted that change was inevitable and healthy, Marina just didn't want it to change. She wanted to keep being the new and fresh idols in Inkopolis, but soon, somebody else would be ripping the title away from her. So, Marina could only comfort herself, saying that as long as she still had Off The Hook, everything would be okay; as long as she still had Pearl and her bright smile around then everything would be okay, even if Marina could feel her hearts hurt whenever she gazed at her from across the room, knowing that she would never be able to call the inkling "hers;" but she kept telling herself everything would be okay. Everything would have to be okay.
But, to be fair, Marina never tried to get together with her friend. Marina has always liked Pearl in a sense that suggested maybe she liked her more than just her best friend, her band partner, her roommate, or who she reported the news with every day; and her feelings only proved themselves to be as such as they grew and grew by the day. The octoling longed to confess her love for the inkling, let out all her bottled-up feelings and finally be able to make Pearl her own, so maybe the pain in her hearts would finally be able to ease, but the logical side of her begged for her to not. As smart and seemingly pretty Marina is on the outside, she isn't confident in the slightest; all she is is an insecure nerd, and even if she's reminded of her beauty with every encounter she has with a fan, and sometimes even strangers, she would never feel enough for Pearl, because maybe her beauty is only skin deep. Maybe Marina is uglier on the inside, and maybe Pearl knows.
The most gut-wrenching thing about Marina is her past, and what only made the matters worse is the fact that Pearl knows. Pearl knows she was a soldier, a mechanic who manufactured machines to kill hundreds and hundreds of inkfish in battles. Even if Marina has never killed anybody with her own two hands, she felt as though she was the one guilty for those hundreds and hundreds of lives her inventions took. Pearl knew just how awful of an octoling she was in the past, every small and miniscule detail from the nights Marina broke down over it. Even when Marina opened up to her about her past and Pearl tried to comfort her by insisting she was only doing what she was told, and calrifying how she was under the control of Octavio and didn't have a choice, Marina still couldn't shake off the immense guilt she held. Pearl seemed to be able to help Marina through anything but that seemed to be the one wound that Pearl's magical touch couldn't heal.
So why would Pearl ever want to be with somebody as horrible as Marina? She couldn't find any single logical answer to that question she asked herself every day. Pearl is perfect; Marina's convinced she's nothing bad in her entire life. She's gorgeous in every aspect, ranging from her gorgeous yellow eyes and adorable face to her sweet and charming personality and her soft touches with the ability to make storms turn to rainbows. To Marina, she is everything she has and more; Pearl is her partner in Off The Hook, her roommate, her first and only love, the reason she's happy, the reason she's not still in Mt. Nantai. Marina couldn't fathom where she would be in a life without the girl. She could have been living on the streets for the past few years, or she could have never even left Mt. Nantai, or she could have even been somewhere far worse than either of the two options if it wasn't for Pearl's generosity that one night, because in Pearl's eyes, Marina was a helpless, lost inkling who needed a place to stay, and it hurt Marina's hearts to know that if Pearl knew what she did, then maybe she would have turned a blind eye instead.
So when Pearl claimed that anything is possible if you put your mind to it, Marina begged to differ. The octoling has an ugly, irredeemable past. No matter how "pretty" she is and how sweet she seems onstage, she knew it didn't smooth over what she used to do. It didn't excuse the fact that she indirectly killed hundreds, and when Pearl first found out about it, Marina could have sworn something changed in the way Pearl looked at her, and that one subtle changed destroyed her. Pearl didn't like her back; maybe she didn't like her at all.
So if that meant that Marina had to live with Pearl as simply nothing more than a business partner, that what she would do to keep Pearl's bright smile in her life. If she had to do nothing more than longingly gaze at her from across the room, that what she would do to keep her bright smile in her life.