Dear Pearl

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"The Squid Research Lab has secretly acquired a manga written in Inkling language!"

- Note before the first page

Dear Pearl is a short manga written and drawn by Marina that bears many traits from shōjo manga. It was first teased on CoroCoro's website before being released in full as a bonus feature in Splatoon, Vol. 10.

Plot
The manga starts with Marina reminiscing about how she imagined the surface world before she defected from Octarian society, with her imagining that it would be filled with song. It then cuts to the construction of MC.Princess Diaries, showing a digger piloted by Marina throwing the three steel beams carried in its claw at the NILS Statue, knocking it over. Marina gets frustrated by this, but tries to pull herself together, but still fails on her second attempt. Pearl, drawn like a bishōjo, appears with a can of Tentacola and praises her, scaring Marina. Pearl then scoffs (for a lack of a better term) and she, now wearing her clothes from Chaos vs. Order, reminds Marina that the final Splatfest is drawing near and starts to elegantly jump from side to side after declaring that they should "go off with a bang", causing Marina to get awestruck by her coolness. It then cuts to an apparently large Pearl using the Princess Cannon, with Marina watching admiringly. The manga ends with Marina wishing she could "shout out a Killer Wail too", over a panel showing a love letter to Pearl and an envelope sealed with a stamp showing the Splatfest symbol.

Localization
In the Japanese version, rather than by Pearls coolness, Marina is instead awestruck by her stylishness. In the panel where Pearl is using the Princess Canon, Marina says in her inner monologue that Pearl has a huge presence despite her small statue, rather than that "[she is] so small...but [she is] so big." The stamp on the envelope is also changed, going from the octopus portion of the Splatfest symbol to the actual symbol.

Trivia

 * Unlike other bonus content from the manga, Dear Pearl is not listed in the volume's table of contents.
 * The manga's Japanese name is the same as the Shifty Station MC.Princess Diaries, Dear Senpai. Interestingly, almost all Shifty Stations are in Japanese named after a real-life shōjo manga with the exeption of MC.Princess Diaries.
 * The flask that Sankichi Hinodeya uses to represent herself appears on the page after the end, bowing and thanking the Squid Research Lab and Seita Inoue.

Etymology
The word "Dear" followed by the intended reader's name is a common way to start a letter, as the manga may be intended as a love letter to Pearl.