A sporting chance.
Written by Jason Venter
Published Apr. 30, 2024
You’ll spend a lot of time scaling Tartarus in Persona 3 Reload. However, the game is about a lot more than randomized floors and turn-based battles during the Dark Hour. In the daylight and evening hours between those dungeon runs, you need to gather your strength. As part of that effort, you’ll forge Social Links with unexpected allies.
Meeting the right people and then establishing good Social Links takes time. There aren’t so many spare hours in your schedule that you can afford to make bad decisions regarding where you go after school. Even your responses to seemingly innocuous conversations matter. Accordingly, here is the information you’ll need to maximize your Social Link with Yuko Nishiwaki, the track team manager and representative of the Strength arcana.
You’ll meet Yuko Nishiwaki fairly early in your adventure, provided you take the time to explore Gekkoukan High. Shortly into the school year, you learn you can visit the track at the far end of the Gym Hallway to meet with the track team. The club is accepting applicants. Make sure to join the club at the first opportunity, on April 23.
Once you join the track team, you meet two key characters. The first of them is an unnamed female student in a jersey, who introduces herself as Yuko. The second individual of note is Miyamoto, the team’s star runner.
To form a Social Link with Yuko, you must first get to know Miyamoto, who is a character of the Chariot arcana. Make your friendship with him your first priority, until you level it up at least once. Then, when you see Yuko in hallways and such, invite her to walk home with you. Eventually, she will accept and meet you for a meal. As the meal concludes, you form the link.
When you start having conversations with Yuko, you’ll get to know her much better. She reveals an unexpected side to her personality, once your bond grows. You help the bond flourish by meeting with her on weekends when she calls to spend time with you, and when you have a persona of the Strength arcana with you for any meetings. Late in the game, you can visit Club Escapade to purchase the Dating Site Note that also improves relationships. However, the most reliable way to form your bond is to select the correct dialog prompts during your visits with Yuko.
By that point, you will hopefully already be in good with Yuko. There are essentially eight conversational events where you need to pay attention. If you answer the important questions optimally, you’ll see a music note appear over her head. Your bond will grow quickly. If your responses are less than ideal, you can still keep going. However, you may have to engage in additional side activities to trigger the next event.
Below are some ideal answers to choose for each rank to progress to the next one. In some cases, additional answers may also work fine, but the ones indicated below definitely achieve the desired effect. It’s also possible to romance Yuko, if you haven’t progressed a relationship with another character. Those options will appear in addition to the ones indicated below, late in the process.
Your answers don’t matter, because you’re golden.
When you reach Rank 10, your bond with Yuko is at its maximum. She hands over the Kids’ Letter item (it will make sense at that time). You also gain the ability to fuse the Atavaka persona.
