I Left the Shrine Behind and Started Over as a Magic Teacher

Mio was marking spell diagrams on a classroom desk when the morning board posted her name beside the school choir contest, and everyone turned to stare. She teaches children at a commoner school how to shape magic safely, because bad timing can break hands, roofs, and lives. After class, she hides in the game center with the taiko regulars who know her best, then returns to a shrine office that still keeps her boxed in like a duty instead of a person. The ribbon under her pillow and the brass token in her safe keep pulling her back to Nozomi, the girl who left and came back carrying old pain. When the sword at the shrine starts speaking during the annual awakening, Mio has to decide whether ...