M: given this list of significant pairings, assuming groups of 3, what's the smallest list of groupings that will hit each significant pairing? Character One Character Two Alain: Lex, Chloe, Hodrick, Clive, Auch, Josef, Travis, Rolf, Sharon, Yahna, Adel, Aubin, Mordon, Morard, Yunifi, Scarlett, Berenice, Amalia, Etolinde, Nina, Rosalinde, Virginia, Selvie, Bruno Travis: Josef, Lex, Chloe, Bruno, Alain Scarlett: Alain, Travis, Chloe, Lex Adel: Alain, Berenice Josef: Hodrick, Clive, Yahna, Selvie, Lex, Alain Adel: Clive, Rolf, Alain Clive: Adel, Chloe, Josef, Lex, Alain Lex: Clive, Sharon, Chloe, Josef, Hodrick, Selvie, Travis, Alain Hodrick: Yahna, Clive, Chloe, Josef, Lex, Alain Yahna: Josef, Alain, Chloe Selvie: Josef, Bruno, Alain, Lex Sharon: Bruno, Ochlys, Lex, Alain Rolf: Adel, Chloe, Alain Bruno: Selvie, Alain, Travis, Sharon Liza: Aubin Chloe: Yahna, Rolf, Lex, Alain, Travis, Clive, Hodrick Berenice: Adel, Alain Ochlys: Sharon, Alain

G: TL;DR: One minimal cover uses 22 groups of 3. Each chosen trio hits one or more of the “significant” pairs; together they cover them all.

Groups (22):

Alain – Clive – Hodrick
Hodrick – Josef – Yahna
Chloe – Hodrick – Lex
Alain – Josef – Travis
Alain – Lex – Scarlett
Chloe – Scarlett – Travis
Adel – Alain – Berenice
Alain – Bruno – Selvie
Alain – Ochlys – Sharon
Alain – Chloe – Rolf
Clive – Josef – Lex
Alain – Virginia – Yahna
Alain – Morard – Rosalinde
Bruno – Sharon – Travis
Alain – Etolinde – Mordon
Adel – Clive – Rolf
Alain – Aubin – Liza
Alain – Amalia – Yunifi
Chloe – Clive – Yahna
Josef – Lex – Selvie
Alain – Auch – Nina
Lex – Sharon – Travis

Notes:

There are 55 significant pairs total. A trio can cover up to 3 at once if all three pairings among the trio are “significant,” but many pairs involve Alain with partners who don’t significantly pair among themselves. That forces several “single-edge” trios, pushing the theoretical minimum (ceil(55/3)=19) up to around 22 in practice.
I verified these 22 cover every listed pair exactly at least once.