Zero's Familiar continues in this second volume. I was eager to start reading this, and it began really well, it really did. Then, it went downhill from there. The story wasn't bad, so much as just a way of story-telling that didn't appeal to me.
As the volume begins, Louise, Saito, Tabitha and Kirche investigate the whereabouts of the the “staff of destruction” that a notorious thief swiped out from under their noses. They eventually do recover the staff, in a moment that is really awesome for Saito, and sweet for him and Louise. All of this is ruined, however, with the combination of bad behavior on the part of Saito, and an unwillingness on the part of Louise to admit her growing feelings for him. Therefore, she punishes Saito brutally.
I know that so-called “amusing injuries” are a trope of Japanese fiction, and that is fine, so long as it is a gag. A quick gag is one thing. To have a character repeatedly beg for mercy in terror, as Saito does, and then see him tortured relentlessly for an ENTIRE ISSUE, is quite a different matter. It just rubbed me the wrong way. Torture doesn't strike me as amusing. Again, a quick gag would have been fine, but an entire issue's worth ruined it all for me.
For that reason, though I enjoyed everything prior to the issue in question, and plan to continue the series eventually, I can neither rate it highly, nor recommend it.