Missions of Love #5

A warm autumn glow frames two school-uniformed teens in an intimate, tension-filled embrace on this volume's cover — a pink-haired girl holding tight to a dark-haired boy in what feels equal parts confrontation and longing. The cover text teases a secret cell phone novelist squaring off against the school's most popular boy in a "mission of love for absolute servitude," setting up the kind of delicious power-dynamic romance that Ema Toyam delivers with real flair. At $10.99 from Kodansha USA, this fifth volume promises plenty of the sharp-edged sweetness fans of the series have come to love.