Closeness determines how the other girls respond to the character you’re playing as.
Closeness Rating comes in values of one to three and is represented by music notes.
Closeness is not the same as Satisfaction. Satisfaction is the measure of how much a girl likes the Owner, which is represented by hearts and the pink border around the girl’s portrait. Closeness is exclusively between the girls and only concerns the player character.
One of the most important aspects of having a high closeness is gift-giving. Giving gifts is essential for completing pose card and swimsuit collections.
For the sake of this list/guide, closeness ratings are defined as Dislike (♪), Trust (♪♪), and Admire (♪♪♪). Closeness can be improved beyond three notes, but at the start of any vacation, it is only ever as high as just the “base” three notes. This will be detailed more below under Portrait Notes.
Example of closeness. Hitomi trusts the player character.
A girl that admires (♪♪♪) you always accepts your request to partner. A girl that trusts (♪♪) you is fairly likely to accept your request to partner, but just as likely to refuse. A girl that dislikes (♪) you will always refuse your requests and gifts. The only viable way to partner with someone that by default dislikes you is to, by chance, let her make the request on the first day.*
Higher closeness makes a girl more likely to accept your gifts, but gifting is more difficult than partnering. Raise the status of portrait notes to be an effective gifter.
Higher closeness with your partner will increase their skill and responsiveness in volleyball.
*It is technically possible to raise closeness enough for someone who dislikes you to accept you by playing butt battle with them several times, but it will usually be late in the vacation before getting to a reasonable level.
A partner can never have fewer than two notes. If you manage to lower your partner’s closeness down to one note, she will leave you.
Refusing a girl’s request to partner on the first day will sometimes, but not always, decrease your closeness rating with her by one note.
Ditching your existing partner will decrease your closeness rating with them by one note. This is when you ask another girl to be your partner or sleep in. You cannot go below two notes with your partner if a request to another girl is rejected. If you succeed in gaining a new partner, it is possible for your old partner to fall to dislike (♪) you as a result. They can fall to dislike (♪) you as a result of sleeping in as well.
Not all starting feelings are mutual. Seeing three notes on a girl while playing as one character doesn’t necessarily mean you will see three notes vice versa. For example, when you play as Kasumi, you will see three notes when looking at Momiji (on Day1). However, when you play as Momiji, you will see two notes when looking at Kasumi. Momiji admires (♪♪♪) Kasumi, but Kasumi doesn’t return the feeling and only trusts (♪♪) Momiji.
There are also relationships that differ between one and two notes. Example: Helena trusts (♪♪) Nyotengu, but Nyotengu dislikes (♪) Helena.
There are no relationships in which a girl has one note and the other has three.
With that said, you don’t need to worry about mutual feelings during your vacation.
After a vacation is started, only the top part of each list shown below (Admired by/Trusted by/Disliked by) is necessary, as these are the stats you will be seeing when playing as the designated character. These are how the other girls feel about the girl you’re playing as. A character’s feelings do not apply when you’re playing as them, since you, the player, are the one making their decisions.
The bottom part of each list (Admires/Trusts/Dislikes) is only for reference and may come in handy if you want someone specific as a partner and want to play as someone they like.
Default Closeness – Relationships List
The list below details the default closeness between each girl. These are the stats every vacation on Day 1 Daytime. These can fluctuate throughout the vacation, but always reset to default at the start of each vacation.
A girl that dislikes (♪) your character will be improved to trust (♪♪) you if she requests to be your partner on the start of the first day and you accept.
Kasumi
♪♪♪ Admired by: Momiji , Hitomi , Honoka
♪♪ Trusted by: Leifang , Helena , Marie , Misaki , Kokoro , Ayane
♪ Disliked by: Nyotengu
♪♪♪ Admires: Hitomi , Helena , Honoka
♪♪ Trusts: Momiji , Leifang , Marie , Misaki , Kokoro , Ayane
♪ Dislikes: Nyotengu
Momiji
♪♪♪ Admired by: —
♪♪ Trusted by: Everyone on the island
♪ Disliked by: —
♪♪♪ Admires: Kasumi
♪♪ Trusts: Leifang , Hitomi , Helena , Marie , Honoka , Nyotengu , Misaki , Kokoro , Ayane
♪ Dislikes: —
Leifang
♪♪♪ Admired by: —
♪♪ Trusted by: Everyone on the island
♪ Disliked by: —
♪♪♪ Admires: —
♪♪ Trusts: Everyone on the island
♪ Dislikes: —
Hitomi
♪♪♪ Admired by: Kasumi , Helena , Kokoro
♪♪ Trusted by: Momiji , Leifang , Marie , Honoka , Nyotengu , Misaki , Ayane
♪ Disliked by: —
♪♪♪ Admires: Kasumi , Helena
♪♪ Trusts: Momiji , Leifang , Marie , Honoka , Nyotengu , Misaki , Kokoro , Ayane
♪ Dislikes: —
Helena
♪♪♪ Admired by: Kasumi , Hitomi , Marie , Kokoro
♪♪ Trusted by: Momiji , Leifang , Honoka , Misaki , Ayane
♪ Disliked by: Nyotengu
♪♪♪ Admires: Hitomi , Marie , Kokoro
♪♪ Trusts: Kasumi , Momiji , Leifang , Honoka , Nyotengu , Misaki
♪ Dislikes: Ayane
Marie Rose
♪♪♪ Admired by: Helena , Honoka
♪♪ Trusted by: Kasumi , Momiji , Leifang , Hitomi , Nyotengu , Misaki , Ayane
♪ Disliked by: Kokoro
♪♪♪ Admires: Helena , Honoka
♪♪ Trusts: Kasumi , Momiji , Leifang , Hitomi , Nyotengu , Misaki , Ayane
♪ Dislikes: Kokoro
Honoka
♪♪♪ Admired by: Kasumi , Marie
♪♪ Trusted by: Momiji , Leifang , Hitomi , Helena , Nyotengu , Misaki , Kokoro , Ayane
♪ Disliked by: —
♪♪♪ Admires: Kasumi , Marie
♪♪ Trusts: Momiji , Leifang , Hitomi , Helena , Nyotengu , Misaki , Kokoro , Ayane
♪ Dislikes: —
Nyotengu
♪♪♪ Admired by: —
♪♪ Trusted by: Momiji , Leifang , Hitomi , Helena , Marie , Honoka , Misaki , Kokoro
♪ Disliked by: Kasumi , Ayane
♪♪♪ Admires: —
♪♪ Trusts: Momiji , Leifang , Hitomi , Marie , Honoka , Misaki
♪ Dislikes: Kasumi , Helena , Kokoro , Ayane
Misaki
♪♪♪ Admired by: —
♪♪ Trusted by: Everyone on the island
♪ Disliked by: —
♪♪♪ Admires: —
♪♪ Trusts: Everyone on the island
♪ Dislikes: —
Kokoro
♪♪♪ Admired by: Helena
♪♪ Trusted by: Kasumi , Momiji , Leifang , Hitomi , Honoka , Misaki , Ayane
♪ Disliked by: Marie , Nyotengu
♪♪♪ Admires: Hitomi , Helena
♪♪ Trusts: Kasumi , Momiji , Leifang , Honoka , Nyotengu , Misaki , Ayane
♪ Dislikes: Marie
Ayane
♪♪♪ Admired by: —
♪♪ Trusted by: Kasumi , Momiji , Leifang , Hitomi , Marie , Honoka , Misaki , Kokoro
♪ Disliked by: Helena , Nyotengu
♪♪♪ Admires: —
♪♪ Trusts: Kasumi , Momiji , Leifang , Hitomi , Helena , Marie , Honoka , Misaki , Kokoro
♪ Dislikes: Nyotengu
Portrait Notes
Portrait notes are the floating notes that appear along with the girl’s portrait in the lower left corner when speaking with them. These represent closeness beyond the regular three notes that are shown in menus.
One yellow portrait note: Appears at two regular notes, but when closeness is nearing three regular notes. Slightly more likely to accept gifts. (Will also erroneously display for characters with three default notes. Raising closeness once updates it to properly display the next level.)
Two pink portrait notes: Appears at three regular notes. Slightly more likely to accept gifts. With her as your partner during volleyball, you will receive an additional technique bonus of 10,000 Zack Dollars for each nice spike you score, 10,000 for each nice serve you make, and 5,000 each time you knock down an opponent with the ball.
Three pink portrait notes: Appears after continuing to raise closeness even higher. Slightly more likely to accept gifts.
Three red portrait notes: Appears when closeness is raised to maximum. She is very likely to accept gifts of liked and indifferent items. Disliked items are somewhat to mostly likely to be accepted. Hated items may still be unlikely, but she will eventually take them.
Personality Quirks
Some girls have unique traits that affect their closeness. A girl does not have these traits when she is the player character.
Helena and Ayane are not morning people. They dislike morning.
Helena and Ayane will have one fewer note with you during the morning unless you’re partners. If you’re not partners with the one you’re trying to befriend, you can play a game with her, but avoid talking to her in the morning. The closeness deduction will make them less likely to partner with you or accept your gifts.
Honoka is sleepy. She dislikes evening.
Honoka will have one fewer note with you during the evening unless you’re partners. If you’re not partners with her and you’re trying to befriend her, you can play a game with her, but avoid talking to her in the evening. The closeness deduction will make her less likely to partner with you or accept your gifts.
Hitomi is competitive. She wants a winning team.
When Hitomi is your partner and you lose more than win in volleyball, you will lose one note with her overnight. She can fall to dislike (♪) you over this. If this happens, she will ditch you in the morning. Presumably to look for someone more competent. She won’t mind how you play in a one on one game, though.
Nyotengu is affectionate. If you give her attention, she will grow to like you quickly.
Nyotengu’s closeness gains are twice that of normal. Despite disliking the most people, she’s easy to please if you manage to get her to be your partner.
Kasumi, Leifang, and Nyotengu are elusive. They become distant quickly.
These girls will lose closeness with you everyday by a random amount if they are not your partner. Unattended, they will dislike (♪) you within the first week—as early as the first night, which can make it difficult to partner up with them on any character. Kasumi will even lose admiration (♪♪♪) for Hitomi, Helena, and Honoka and drop again to dislike (♪) as early as the second night. To keep your friendship and partner up with one of them, you need to be quick and hope you don’t get unlucky.
Raising Closeness
There are a few ways to raise closeness. Keep playing these games with someone and you will eventually improve your closeness rating with them.
-Butt Battle is the easiest way to get close to another girl. Whether or not she is your partner and whether you win or lose, butt battling a girl will always raise closeness by a moderate amount. You can do this repeatedly with your partner to bond quickly, but if you want to bond with someone specific that is not your partner, you’ll have to wait until she appears at the pool.
-Pool Hopping can raise both closeness and satisfaction. The winner gains more satisfaction, but for closeness, it doesn’t matter whether you win or lose. Pool hopping gives an inconsistent amount of closeness that can make this a somewhat quick method or very slow method to improving your closeness rating with someone.
-Volleyball is the most profitable way to gain closeness. Of course, you can only do this with your partner. A game of volleyball takes longer than a butt battle, but winning a game of volleyball will net you a similar amount of closeness as well as a lot of Zack Dollars and a lot of satisfaction. Losing a game of volleyball won’t hurt your closeness unless you’re partnered with Hitomi. See Personality Quirks above.
-Gifting an item that the other girl likes is one way to gain closeness, but it is not a particularly great method for raising closeness alone. If she isn’t already very close, she may not even open the gift. You will gain the closeness if she unwraps the gift, even if she rejects the gift afterwards. However, you will gain nothing if she rejects the gift with the wrapping still on. This makes it impossible to raise closeness through gifts if she already dislikes you as she will reject everything from you.
Using Closeness for Collections
Making use of closeness can be invaluable to completing collections. If you intend to acquire all of the swimsuits or pose cards from a girl’s shop to give to another girl, I recommend playing as the girl whose personal sports shop has the items you want and partnering with the girl you want to receive the items. Play volleyball repeatedly to raise your closeness rating and earn money to make gift-wrapped purchases. If you find it easier, you may just focus on earning money and making purchases until everything you want is gift wrapped, then spend the next vacation or two getting your partner, raising closeness, and handing them over. Gifting all of the pose cards is very easy when your partner has three red portrait notes, but still expect to have to re-wrap a few of them.
See full pose card list here.
If the partner/recipient you want is someone who dislikes the character whose items you want them to have, then you’ll have no choice but to repeatedly end the vacation by going home and starting a new one until she asks you to be her partner. At that point, you can start raising closeness. Poor game design, maybe, but that’s just how it is. Going home and ending the vacation early will cause all of the girls’ satisfaction to drop to the preset blue level for the next vacation, but this has no effect on closeness or girl-to-girl gifting, so it has no negative impact on this method. Satisfaction only affects Owner-to-girl gifting and exp gained at the end of the vacation.
An alternate option is to buy and gift as Owner, but I find this method far more tedious as it is dramatically faster in girl mode to both earn money and raise closeness, even at level 100 excitement. Girl-to-girl gifting is more efficient most of the time. Of course, you’ll still have to gift as Owner when buying exclusive items from the Owner shop.
