Sound Stage 01 (a.k.a. Episode 3.5): Sometimes the Baths Are a Burning Battlefield!
(Like other Nanoha Sound Stages, this 'episode' is made up of short audio-only vignettes interspersed with the occasional Image Song.)
Fate is settling in to life at school while she and Nanoha wait for their devices to be repaired. As they head home one day with Alisa and Suzuka, they barely miss Hayate, who happens to be passing by with Vita. Seeing all the students around, Hayate asks Vita if she'd like to go to school, but the Iron Hammer Knight isn't particularly interested. Signum, joining them, mentions that Dr Ishida thinks Hayate could return to school when her legs get better. Hayate isn't particularly interested in doing so either, saying she needs to take care of the Wolkenritter.
After spending the afternoon playing with Alisa and Suzuka, Fate and Nanoha head back to the TSAB's condominium. Everyone else is out, so they pass the time by doing some training on the building roof. As they're finishing up, Lindy calls to tell Fate they'll all be going out for dinner later. She invites Nanoha to join them, then suggests the two girls take a bath while they wait. They like the idea, but are both too polite to decide which of them should use the bathtub first. Fate is about to suggest they bathe together when Amy arrives home and announces that she's been recommended a nearby luxury spa* , Uminari Sparkle, by her new friend — Nanoha's sister Miyuki. They decide to go there together; Nanoha also invites Alisa and Suzuka to join them.
At home with the Wolkenritter, Hayate is preparing oden for dinner. It has to stew for a long time before it's ready, so she suggests they have their evening baths in the meantime. However, due to a mistake with the water heater, Shamal has accidentally filled the bathtub with cold water, and heating it up now would take too long. Finding a flyer for the newly-opened Uminari Sparkle, Hayate suggests they visit there instead. Zafira opts to stay behind, but the others go with Hayate.
At the spa, Hayate and Nanoha's respective parties arrive moments apart. They each split up into various smaller groups and start exploring the many baths, pools and saunas. After some initial shyness, Nanoha and Fate get highly engrossed in washing each others' backs (much to Alisa's frustration). Elsewhere, Suzuka runs into Hayate and the Wolkenritter, who invite her to dinner; Suzuka explains that she's with some other friends, but says she'd be happy to come over some other time. Meanwhile, despite having only met that day, Amy and Miyuki have quickly become fast friends, chatting at length about their families and coworkers. Eventually all the various groups, now thoroughly washed and relaxed, head home for dinner.
Later that evening, Nanoha and Fate discuss the imminent return of their intelligent devices. After some more practice, they reiterate their resolve to grow even stronger.
At Hayate's house, the Wolkenritter prepare to head out again after she falls asleep. They vow to protect her, and the happy life they have together, at all costs.
Tropes
- Bathtub Bonding: Fate and Nanoha get to do this for the first time. They both enjoy it a great deal.
- Breather Episode: Like the majority of Sound Stages.
- Call-Forward: Suzuka takes a rain check on Hayate's dinner invitation, promising to come over "next time". Next time will be in episode 5, although that won't quite go as planned either.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Subverted. Fate is initially hesitant to suggest that she and Nanoha could just take a bath together rather than one at a time because she's unaware that Japan and Mid-Childa have the same views about mixed bathing and doesn't want to come across as weird.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The dialogue between Nanoha and Fate during their Bathtub Bonding could easily be interpreted very differently out of context. Alisa's snarky remarks don't help.
- Get a Room!: Alisa says this almost verbatim when Nanoha and Fate start getting overly engrossed in their mutual Bathtub Bonding.
- Interquel: Although it's numbered 3.5, chronologically this episode actually takes place during the one-week Time Skip in episode 4.
- Lethal Chef: Vita and Signum more or less accuse Shamal of being this, although Hayate says she's improved a lot.
- Missed Him by That Much: Even though both the protagonists and the Wolkenritter are all at the same spa at the same time, they somehow keep managing to just avoid running into each other. In part this is due to Nanoha and Fate spending most of their time washing each other's backs instead of wandering around with Alisa and Suzuka. Vita spends some time in the same bath with Alisa, and Suzuka later runs into Hayate and the Wolkenritter. In all fairness, it's apparently a large and crowded complex with many different rooms and baths.
- Mundane Utility: Averted — Vita tells Signum to heat the bath water using her flaming sword, but Signum is offended by the idea and refuses.
- Skinship Grope: When they're all getting changed, Hayate talks admiringly about Signum's breasts and how much she'd like to feel them up the way she does Shamal's. A few minutes later, she admits to Vita (telepathically) that she does feel them up sometimes when Signum is asleep.
- The Quiet One: When they briefly discuss their damaged devices, Fate comments rather wistfully about how talkative Raising Heart is, noting how Bardiche rarely says much at all.
