Considering that they apparently used to destroy the Danger^H^H^H^H^H^H Training Room on the Arthra during their spars on the regular, it's probably for the best.

(That might be fanon, come to think of it; the only time I remember the training room actually breaking was the epilogue story in the A's manga, and that bout involved Nanoha, Fate, Arf, Chrono, and Yuuno versus Hayate and the Wolkenritter, so it may not be representative.)

I am a little confused about where the hike took place. I was pretty sure Earth (Non-Administered Planet #97) was more than an hour from Midchilda, and of course Nanoha met Fate in her friend Suzuka's backyard ('s forest). I suspect there's some errors in there, whether original or translational.

Eh, but who cares, this cuteness is justice.

This is such a nice look at Fate's issues. She's so aware of what it means to be rejected, and to hurt the ones you love, that she's going to overcompensate. And where many of us have urges that make us feel bad or wrong for having them (justly or unjustly), she's so aware that she's not "normal", not "natural", that perfectly natural feelings and impulses are going to play into that self-doubt. It's common enough, growing up, to feel like you're some kind of freak, that nobody has ever felt the way you do, that you're broken — and Fate knows for a fact that she was manufactured, and had the person she loved most tell her to her face that she was a monster, a broken doll. That's got to multiply those feelings immensely.

She's gotten better, of course — she's incredibly strong, and Nanoha and Lindy have been very good for her — but that kind of psychic wound doesn't just go away. So it's nice to see this kind of thing touching those issues.

It's interesting — obviously the two artists wanted "Nanoha and Fate's First Festival Date", and presumably agreed on just that beforehand, but they managed to create a couple of sweet stories that hit some of the same notes while being distinct. I love the first one's callback to the third sound stage and Fate and Arf's anniversary, and the second's decision to go for the Obon festival instead of a fireworks festival does some beautiful things with Fate's melancholy. So much love for NanoFate.

Speaking of insulin, sweetness of bodily fluids can be a sign of diabetes. Consult your doctor.

Well, of course the warmth of that hand is real, Einhart.
Oh god, I made myself sad. See, Claus never got to feel the warmth of Olive's hands -- 'cos she didn't have any.

Yeah, the fact that this is based on the anime Vivid Strike, a sequel to the manga/anime Mahou Shoujou Lyrical Nanoha ViViD, a sequel to Mahou Shoujou Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, a sequel to... kinda does land you in the deep end, characterization-wise.

The glasses-girl, Jill, is original to Vivid Strike; the other, Nove, goes back to StrikerS. Nove actually sums up her situation pretty well; she's both a cyborg and a clone, and if you think of the JS Incident she refers to as a large-scale terrorist attack, you won't be too far off. The protagonists thwarted the worst of it, she was arrested and rehabilitated, adopted by the widower of her genetic original, and as of Vivid Strike runs a gym for vaguely pubescent magical prize-fighters. Simple!

I got the idea that Riko's gift, rather than a trip, is a set bath salts/fragrances, and that You's was the costume.

Well, maybe? That seems to be some of the intent, and is stronger in the anime — but there is also an actual preschool/kindergarten teacher idol in CG (Arisa, the one with the bunny hand puppet — I don't think she made it into the anime?), and Kirari's obsession with cuteness and cute little girls gets played harder in the Cinderella Theater comics; it's strongly implied in an early strip that she actually abducted Anzu, keeping her captive for a while in a playhouse in her room. Soooo…
More seriously, I think Kirari's persona is only half a construct; she's over the top with happi-happi to compensate for being so big, compared with everyone else, but even without that she'd be pretty exuberant and frilly. It's more natural than, say, Nana's "Planet Usamin" deal or Miku's catgirl thing.

(Those comics I mentioned — there's two strips:
https://safebooru.donmai.us/posts/1370382 (Kirari's room, with the playhouse labeled "Anzu")
https://safebooru.donmai.us/posts/1377876
(After Anzu escapes))