Tearmoon Empire: Volume 3

The third volume of Tearmoon Empire continues to maintain the fun and adventurous tone of the story. While Mia has successfully avoided the guillotine, she's now facing a new possible future of herself dying to poison while the entire world is thrown into chaos. Since the bloody diary has vanished, she receives new guidance in the form of Miabel, her granddaughter who traveled back in time. That being said, Miabel actually plays very little role in altering the path leading to the bleak future. At least in this volume. Miabel is mainly there to be a lovable little sister role for Mia, only going through her memories of the future every now and then.

After the trip to Remno in the previous book, this volume marks Mia's return to the academy and focuses on the student council presidential election. I like how not only this event is directly tied to the alternate future Miabel came from, but also fleshes Rafina out nicely. Her devoted and religious nature can easily evolve into something sinister, which no one would ever see coming until it's too late. Due to her personality and social standing, she's actually a very lonely person who needs a friend she can trust... and this book gives her one. There's plenty of character development, and the plot moves along nicely even if the story takes place in Saint-Noel Academy again. You could say this is the start of a new story arc, which I think is done pretty nicely.

Despite the light-hearted nature of the book, however, there's a short story about Dion in the alternate future that is rather heartbreaking. Miabel really likes him, and for a very good reason. Up until the end, Dion knows that he's a soldier who will meet his end in the battlefield, yet it doesn't stop him from imagining a more peaceful end for himself. While I have no doubt Mia will avoid that future, I can't help but hope that by doing so, she will also guide Dion to a better ending. Even though the main appeal of the series is the fun it delivers, I really like how the writing really conveys that bittersweet feeling from these “bad endings” too.

Based on how this book ends, it's heavily hinted that the academy Mia is building in Tearmoon is facing some problems and that we're going to see it in the next volume.