Having a close-knit group of good friends whom you could always count on was a positive thing in many ways, Arisa Bannings knew. However, when the talk turned to romance...

"I can't believe you two are dating!" Nanoha squealed.

"Personally, I'd say it's about time," observed Hayate.

"I think it's sweet," Fate said.

"So dish already," Hayate said. "We want details!"

It was as if the last request had opened the floodgates. Questions peppered her from all sides.

"Which one of you confessed first?"

"How did your first kiss happen?"

"Have you been on any dates yet?"

"Was it romantic?"

"What did you say?"

"Have you done it yet?"

"Hayate!" Arisa exploded, half-jumping out of her seat.

"That's a yes," the brunette concluded, grinning.

"Suzuka, help me out here!" Arisa pleaded with her girlfriend, who was placidly eating her hamburger with dainty bites. While it was nice to see Suzuka acting like her usual self, a little less calm would have been reassuring.

"Well, she is right," Suzuka said matter-of-factly.

"Do you have to discuss this here, in the middle of McDonald's?"

Nanoha grinned at her.

"We might as well, Arisa-chan. Since you don't eat, it'll give you something to do."

Fate blushed. At least someone was on her side, Arisa thought.

"Wait, how does that work?" Hayate asked.

"How does what work?"

"Sex, of course. You're a ghost. You don't have a body, so how is it that you can well, perform?"

Fate did a spit-take, making Arisa glad her white cashmere sweater wasn't real. Suzuka handed her a napkin so she wouldn't have to go intangible to get the orange soda off her face.

"It's...it's no weirder than vampire being able to--" Arisa stammered.

"Yeah, but Suzuka-chan is a living person," Nanoha said, "not the walking dead, so that isn't really surprising."

"Though there are lots of legends and folk tales about ghosts who sleep with the living," Hayate said. "Chinese literature, for example, is full of them. And isn't it true that there are Western stories, also?"

"Ah! Like the 'Phantom Lover,' a ghost who came back from the dead and visited his fiancee in the night, until she agreed to accompany him back to his grave."

"Well, Arisa is buried in my backyard, so if that's her plan we'll still be able to visit home regularly," Suzuka observed.

"Why me?" Arisa moaned.

Hayate nibbled on a French fry, then paused before taking another.

"You know, there's still a question."

"What?"

"Well, even if it's not strange, from a literary/mythological perspective, that Arisa-chan could sleep with Suzuka-chan, it doesn't explain how."

"Hayate, of all the people at this table, you're the last one I'd have suspected needed how-to lessons," Arisa managed to get a little of her own back.

"Not that way. I mean, you don't have a real body, just a magical construct that simulates one. It doesn't feel pain, it repairs any damage instantly, it doesn't even show up on cameras. So how can it, um, react to the things Suzuka-chan does?"

That...was actually a good question.

"You might as well ask how Arisa-chan blushes like that," Nanoha said. "She's as red as Fate-chan."

"Well," Suzuka said, "Arisa's body does seem to reflect her mental state, even if the biological processes that would produce reactions like blushing don't exist any more."

"Wow. I guess that means it must be true what they say, huh?"

"About what, Hayate-chan?"

She grinned and reached for another fry.

"That sex really is ninety percent mental."