Evangelion School Romantic Comedy: The Battle for Shinji! Everyone Reincarnated Chaos
In a modern Japanese high school, the characters from 'Evangelion' have all reincarnated. The protagonist is Shinji Ikari. He just wants a quiet school life, but around him are former Angels and Eva pilots. Everyone has their memories but no superpowers. Angels and pilots now live as ordinary humans.
Episode 1: Shinji transfers in and chaos erupts. Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley Soryu, Kaworu Nagisa, Mari Makinami Illustrious, Misato Katsuragi, Ritsuko Akagi, and Ryoji Kaji appear as classmates or
Evangelion School Romantic Comedy: The Battle for Shinji! Everyone Reincarnated Chaos - A Bloodbath Conference, and Words from the Garden
"…Haaah."
Ikari Shinji stared at the single sheet of paper on his desk, letting out a sigh along with it.
Early May. From the windows of Misonodai High School, the blue sky and the fresh greenery stretching along the Misono River were clearly visible. Even though classes had ended for the day, the classroom was filled with a restless, buzzing atmosphere.
On the paper, written large in marker, were these words:
**"Today after school — Harukaze Festival Café Meeting! If you run, I'll chase you!"**
That last line was oddly forceful. The writer was a girl with round glasses — Makinami Mari Illustrious.
*(I thought the culture festival was still a long way off.)*
Shinji glanced furtively at the back door of the classroom. If he left now, he might be able to slip out without anyone noticing.
However.
"Whoa, Shinji-kun, spotted!"
A bright voice sliced through the classroom air. Before he could even turn around, slender fingers wrapped firmly around Shinji's arm.
"Eh… M-Makinami-san."
"The meeting's going to center around you, you know. You're not getting away, okay?"
Mari narrowed her sparkling green eyes and smiled cheerfully. Her deep chestnut, fluffy semi-long hair bounced with her movements. Her small beret sat happily atop her head today as always.
"Um, center around me? I'm not really…"
"But Shinji-kun, you're going to be the class's signature menu item, right? It's become a rumor, you know. 'Class 2-3's Healing-Type Waiter.'"
"That's wrong! Who started something like that—"
"I spread it around."
Mari said it without the slightest hint of guilt.
"…"
Shinji felt something inside him snap.
Pulled along by Mari, he was led to a long desk set up in the center of the classroom. About ten classmates had already gathered there. And at the far end of the desk—
A bluish-silver short bob. Crimson eyes.
Ayanami Rei sat quietly.
Her gaze was fixed directly on Shinji. In that instant, the air in the classroom seemed to tighten, just a little.
"Ikari-kun."
Rei's voice was as quiet as ever. But even amid the surrounding noise, it reached Shinji's ears with startling clarity.
"Ah, Ayanami-san. Good work today."
"Mm."
Rei gave a small nod, then glanced—just barely—at the empty seat next to Shinji. …No, "glanced" wasn't quite accurate. It was more like her crimson eyes paused there for just a moment.
At that moment, the front door of the classroom slid open with a clatter.
"I'm late, so be grateful."
A girl with her golden hair tied up in twin tails stood with her arms crossed, feet planted firmly. Her bright blue eyes quickly scanned the classroom.
Soryu Asuka Langley.
When her gaze caught Shinji's figure, her eyes narrowed.
"You were trying to run away again, weren't you? Good thing Mari caught you."
"No, I wasn't trying to run away. I was just, um, reading the room—"
"Hah? What do you mean, 'reading the room'? I'm sick of hearing your spineless excuses."
Asuka dropped her bag onto the seat next to Shinji with a thud.
Then, Rei stood up straight.
"…That's my seat."
Everyone present stiffened with a start.
"Hah? Wait, what are you talking about? The seats here aren't assigned, are they?"
"They're not. But I'm sitting next to Ikari-kun."
Rei spoke each word slowly, but in a voice that didn't waver in the slightest.
"Wha— You never showed any sign of that until yesterday!"
"I've always felt that way. I just didn't say it."
"That's so unfair! Then what am I supposed to do?!"
"I don't know. Decide your own matters yourself."
Invisible sparks seemed to fly between the two of them.
The other classmates held their breath, watching the scene like a tennis match, their gazes darting back and forth.
—At that moment.
"In that case, I, who am neither of you, shall sit beside him."
A soft voice gently interjected.
Silver-gray hair that seemed to gather the twilight air. Reddish-brown eyes gazing quietly, only at Shinji.
Nagisa Kaworu.
He had, at some point, come to stand diagonally behind Shinji.
"Kaworu-kun…"
"Fair, isn't it? Watching the two of you fight pains my heart. If not choosing either side is your answer right now, then it's most natural for me to be at your side."
Kaworu spoke his sound logic as if singing it.
"Wha— No one asked you! Actually, why does it even come to that?!"
Asuka's voice cracked clearly with anger this time.
"You stay quiet! I'm the one who decides who sits next to Shinji!"
"Asuka rejects my opinion, but your opinion ignores Shinji-kun's opinion, doesn't it?"
"Ugh—!"
Asuka was at a loss for words.
Then, without missing a beat, Mari leaned forward from across the long desk.
"Then then, where should I be? I want to be near Shinji-kun too, you know~"
Mari seemed genuinely delighted, as if she wasn't reading the hostile atmosphere at all.
"You— you have culture festival work to do!"
"Roles are decided, but seating isn't, right? Is the seat in front of Shinji-kun open?"
"The seat in front is mine."
"Then behind? Ah, if it's the seat on the hallway side, I might be able to rest my head on Shinji-kun's shoulder."
"Please don't rest your head on me!"
Shinji couldn't help raising his voice.
A stir.
The classroom air grew even thicker. The gazes of his classmates pierced into Shinji's back, mixed with curiosity and just a hint of malice.
He could hear whispered voices, deliberately loud enough to be heard.
"Isn't that amazing? Those transfer students." "Four of them, isn't that a bit much?"
His stomach clenched.
His throat was incredibly dry.
*(This is bad. If I stay here, I won't last.)*
Shinji stood up silently.
Clatter.
The sound of his footsteps silenced the entire classroom.
"Huh? Shinji-kun, where are you going?"
Mari's voice still carried a note of amusement.
"…To get some water."
With that, Shinji hurried toward the back door of the classroom.
He could feel Rei's quiet gaze on his back.
He could feel Asuka's sharp, protesting presence.
He could feel Kaworu's worried smile.
He could feel Mari's curiosity-filled eyes.
Carrying all of it on his back, Shinji ran.
—He fled.
And before he knew it, he was standing in front of a small vegetable garden behind the schoolyard.
The smell of tomato leaves. The green scent of cucumber vines. The warm smell of sun-baked soil.
He let out a long breath.
Sweat dripped from his forehead. His heart was still pounding against the inside of his chest.
"So you ran away again."
A low, calm voice.
Looking over, he saw PE teacher Kaji Ryouji watering the cucumber leaves in the corner of the garden.
A scruffy beard that somehow looked light, a short-sleeved polo shirt. A sweat towel around his neck as always.
Kaji glanced at Shinji, gave a wry smile, and pulled a cigarette from his pocket.
"Ah… Kaji-sensei."
"This place is perfect as an escape spot, after all. Want some water?"
"No… I'm fine."
Shinji crouched down by the side of the garden, as if collapsing.
*Chik.* The sound of a lighter. Purple smoke slowly dissolved into the twilight air.
"What happened?"
Shinji couldn't lift his face. Staring at his own knees, he haltingly recounted what had just happened.
Even after he finished speaking, silence lingered.
"…I just want to be normal with everyone. The past life stuff doesn't matter. Just as classmates, as friends, normally. So why does it end up like that?"
His voice was hoarse.
Kaji exhaled smoke toward the sky.
"If you want to be normal, then don't run away like it's normal."
Just one sentence.
It sank heavily into the center of Shinji's chest.
His breathing became shallow.
His lungs felt wrong.
*(He told me not to run away.)*
In his past life, he'd been told the same thing over and over.
And every time, he ran.
He ran, and ran, and kept running.
And at the end of all that running, he gained nothing.
—No.
At the end of all that running, he hurt so many people.
That was the answer of his past life.
"…But, sensei. I can't choose. Everyone's important to me. I don't want to hurt anyone. I don't know how to say it."
"No one's telling you to choose."
Kaji's voice was as calm as ever.
"I won't tell you not to run. You'll want to run, naturally. But what you want to do after you run — at least decide that clearly. Otherwise, every time you run, you'll be empty. Realizing that after you've grown up is pretty painful."
Shinji desperately tried to think about the meaning of those words.
What did he want to do after running away?
How did he want to face the four of them?
…He didn't know.
"…I still don't know."
He forced the words out.
"I see. But there is a deadline. Before the culture festival, there's surely an answer you need to find. Well, don't rush. Like the vegetables in this garden, feelings are something you grow."
Kaji crushed out his cigarette and leaned the empty watering can against the wall.
"I'm heading home soon. What about you?"
"…I'll stay here a little longer."
"I see. Get home before it gets dark."
Kaji raised one hand lightly and left the garden.
Shinji was alone in the world.
The twilight light dyed the tomato leaves in the garden orange.
Shinji sat cross-legged on the soil and pictured the four faces, one by one.
Rei. Direct, clumsy, but never telling a lie.
Asuka. A show-off, with huge emotional swings, but lonely at heart.
Kaworu. Infinitely kind, genuinely trying to hear his sound — the sound of his heart.
Mari. Reading the room better than anyone, yet deliberately doing whatever she pleased, breaking the atmosphere, and yet — saving him.
It wasn't that he'd been ignoring everyone's feelings.
He'd noticed.
He knew.
But he couldn't choose.
He didn't want to choose.
That feeling alone slowly hardened inside his body as he sat on the soil.
He had to stand up.
He had to go home.
And yet, his body wouldn't move.
—At that moment, the smartphone in his pocket buzzed.
A notification.
The sender: Makinami Mari Illustrious.
**"We're continuing tomorrow, so don't run away, okay!"**
Shinji stared at those words.
*Don't run away, okay.*
Mari always said things like that so casually.
Shinji gripped his phone and looked up at the sky.
The setting sun was slowly sinking beyond the Misono River.
*I want to run away.*
*But don't run away.*
Inside his head, two versions of himself glared at each other in silence once again.
Even when night fell, the scales didn't tip either way.
Shinji finally stood up and walked back to Misonodai Heights, Room 203, with heavy steps.
When he got to his room, he didn't turn on the lights. He just sat down in the entryway.
In the darkness, only the smartphone screen glowed coldly.
**"We're continuing tomorrow, so don't run away, okay!"**
Mari's message, like a follow-up blow, echoed through Shinji's heart all night long.
*Throb. Throb.*
He couldn't sleep until morning came.
Novelia is an AI-powered platform to read original light novels and fan fiction, create your own in just a few taps, and chat with the characters. New, illustrated episodes arrive daily — free to start.