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 - Rooftop Resolve, a Heart That Won't Run Away
He was out of breath.
His legs hurt. His calves kept spasming. Every time he sprinted up another step of the emergency staircase behind the school building, his lungs felt like they were being torn apart.
"Hahh... hahh...!"
The frenzy of the culture festival drifted up from the schoolyard below. The shouts from the food stalls, laughter, someone singing badly. All of it blurred together with the pounding of his own heart, and he could barely make any of it out.
The iron staircase swayed.
He clung to the handrail. It was cold. The October wind bit through his sweat-soaked shirt.
He didn't look back.
If he looked back, he'd see that horde. Seven hundred students, seriously chasing after him. King of the culture festival—he didn't even understand what that meant. How did Mari's whim turn into this?
"Kuh..."
He planted his foot on the final step and threw his whole body against the iron door leading to the rooftop.
A heavy clang.
It opened.
Blinding.
The October afternoon light flooded his eyes all at once. The sky was impossibly blue. Beyond the fence, the surface of the Misono River glittered. The cherry blossom leaves had already begun to change color.
Shinji staggered to the center of the rooftop and collapsed to his knees in front of the fence.
Thud.
The concrete floor was cold and hard.
"...Hahh... hahh..."
He fell onto his back and took a deep breath. His heart was still pounding wildly in his ears.
It was quiet.
The sound of pursuing footsteps was nowhere to be heard.
The wind on the rooftop felt good. The cold breeze brushed through his sweat-plastered bangs.
(Is it... over?)
Catching his breath, Shinji opened his eyes slightly.
A cloudless sky. The white shadow of the water tank. Withered morning glory vines tangled in the fence.
No one was there.
Just me.
Or so it should have been.
But in his head, yesterday's scene kept spinning around and around.
The classroom after school. The sunset. In front of the cleaning supply closet.
Rei's tears.
"I... like you, Ikari-kun."
Rei's face as she said those words surfaced in his mind.
Even the teardrop that fell to the floor, clear as day.
And then, right after, Asuka's blue eyes blazing with fury as she burst in.
"Are you trying to make a move on MY Shinji!?"
No. Rei didn't do anything wrong. Asuka didn't either. The one at fault was me—the one who ran away.
"..."
Shinji slowly sat up and hugged his knees.
Curled up.
As if to keep his own body from escaping anywhere else.
Yesterday, I ran from that place.
I couldn't face Rei's confession head-on.
I heard all of Asuka's anger from behind my back.
I didn't listen to what Kaworu was trying to say.
I knew what Mari was scheming, too.
I abandoned all of it and ran.
And today, I'm running again.
Running with everything I've got, just to escape.
(What the hell am I...)
He was pathetic, frustrated, angry at himself.
His eyes burned.
He bit his lip and held back the tears.
"...!"
That was when it happened.
The rooftop door creaked open, slowly.
His heart jumped.
Pursuers.
The blood drained from his entire body in an instant.
The wind blew cold against his damp neck.
"...Found you."
A familiar, slightly hoarse voice.
Shinji looked up.
It wasn't the pursuing horde—it was his homeroom teacher, Katsuragi Misato.
She wore her usual thin cardigan over a blouse loosened at the chest. In her hand, a bottle of chilled barley tea. Twenty-eight years old, looking like she'd just stepped out of the after-school faculty room. Her usual self.
But her dark eyes alone were unnervingly calm, fixed on Shinji.
It was quiet.
The October wind swept across the rooftop.
The fence rattled faintly.
"Here."
Misato walked over beside Shinji and held out the bottle.
"Ah... thank you."
He took it and twisted the cap.
A small squeak.
The cold barley tea slowly moistened his parched throat. It was delicious. Incredibly so.
After a few sips, Shinji gripped the bottle with both hands.
The cold seeped into his palms.
"...Sensei, did you chase after me?"
"Well, yeah. The entire student body is hunting you down. As your homeroom teacher, I can't just ignore that."
"I'm sorry..."
"Nothing to apologize for. More importantly—this spot hasn't been found yet, right?"
Misato glanced back at the rooftop door and listened.
"...Seems fine. For now."
"Hah..."
Shinji hung his head, still hugging his knees.
Silence fell.
In the distance, the culture festival announcements could be heard.
"...Sensei."
"What?"
"I just want to be normal. With everyone—as classmates. As friends. Just... laughing together, talking together. That's all I wanted. So why... why is this happening? Why am I being chased by the entire school, sitting alone on the rooftop, about to cry?"
His voice trembled.
The words overflowed from the pit of his stomach on their own.
"What did I even do? I just care about everyone. I just don't want to hurt anyone. That's all...!"
A single tear spilled over.
Something warm ran down his cheek.
He didn't wipe it away.
He didn't have the energy to.
Misato silently crouched down beside him.
She smoothed her skirt over her knees.
"...You know,"
Misato's voice rode the wind, quietly reaching his ears.
"For every time you run away, someone precious to you gets hurt."
His heart jolted.
"The more you run, the more you leave behind the people who chase after you—thinking it'll be fine, because it's you. They get tired, they get hurt, they cry, and still, they wait for you. Those are the people you're abandoning."
Shinji stared at the ground.
The gray, rough surface of the concrete.
"...I know."
His voice was hoarse.
"If you know, then why do you run?"
"...Because I'm scared."
"Scared?"
"When I try to respond to someone's feelings, I always end up hurting them. If I choose something, the person I didn't choose will definitely be sad. That's what scares me. It was the same in my past life. I could never do anything for the people I cared about. If anything, I hurt them. A lot. ...So I don't want to respond to anyone's feelings anymore."
The moment he said it, he froze.
What did I just say?
I don't want to respond to anyone's feelings.
That meant shutting the lid on all four of their feelings.
Pretending Rei's confession never happened.
Continuing to ignore Asuka's anger.
Pretending not to notice Kaworu's affection.
Brushing off Mari's words.
That's what it meant.
(How... despicable...)
He was disgusted with himself.
"...So you do talk about your past life."
Misato said quietly.
"...Yes."
"I know about it too. Your weakness in your past life. Your kindness. And that habit of running away."
Misato's voice suddenly sounded distant.
"Back when you were piloting the Eva, you were always like that. You wanted to save people, but you didn't know how. So you always ran. Ran and ran, and in the end, you tried to leave everything to someone else and look away from it all yourself."
The memories of his past life came flooding back.
The empty beer cans in Misato's apartment.
That voice pushing him forward—"Go."
The past version of himself who betrayed her again and again.
Running, running, and still being forced into the Eva.
Crying, screaming, fighting.
And in the end, never able to choose anything.
"...I—no, I've always been like that."
Shinji forced the words out, staring at the ground.
"I've been running from the very act of trying to respond to someone's feelings. From the start, I was running from facing anything. ...Isn't that right?"
"It's not wrong."
Misato said it plainly.
No mercy.
But there was no coldness in her voice, nothing pushing him away.
If anything, there was a gentleness, almost nurturing.
"But the you right now is properly aware of it. You understand that you've been running this whole time. That alone means you've moved forward a little. ...Those girls beside you—they see that side of you. They probably even realize that you can't forgive yourself."
Shinji closed his eyes.
Behind his eyelids, four faces appeared and faded.
Crimson eyes.
Blue eyes.
Reddish-brown eyes.
Green eyes.
All of them had been looking straight at me.
"...But Sensei. I can't choose. I can't decide who's number one. Everyone cares about me in different ways. I can't compare that."
"No one's telling you to choose."
Misato's words sank into his chest.
"What you do is up to you. Just stop running. You, of all people, know there's nothing waiting at the end of that road."
"..."
Shinji opened his eyes and looked at his hands.
The barley tea bottle he was gripping.
It should have been cold, but it had already gone lukewarm from the warmth of his hands.
"...Yes."
He nodded, faintly.
That was when it happened.
BANG!!!
The rooftop door flew open with tremendous force.
His heart froze.
He turned around.
"FOUND you, you idiot Shinji!!"
Golden twintails bounced in the afternoon light, swaying like flames.
Soryu Asuka Langley.
She was pointing at Shinji with a terrifying expression.
"I'm going to catch you before anyone else! Give it up! I'm going to be the Harukaze King!"
"A-Asuka...san..."
Shinji scrambled backward, still on the ground.
His heart was pounding for a completely different reason than before.
"Why are you running!? Just listen to me for a second! If you'd stayed in that classroom after school, you'd definitely only think of me as second to Rei or something! It pisses me off! The way you pretend to be nice to everyone but never give anyone the top spot!"
Asuka's voice echoed across the rooftop.
She was angry.
But deep in those blue eyes, there was a faint glistening.
Angry, yet hurt.
Frustrated, on the verge of tears.
It pierced Shinji's chest, deep, deep.
"...Asuka."
Misato tried to step in.
But.
"Ikari-kun."
A cool, clear voice flowed across the rooftop like the wind.
He turned, and before he knew it, Ayanami Rei was standing at the door.
Her pale, blue-tinged silver hair swayed quietly in the breeze. Her crimson eyes were fixed directly on Shinji.
She approached his side without a word.
Her footsteps were almost silent.
"A-Ayanami...san..."
"...Caught you."
Rei said, gently grabbing the sleeve of Shinji's uniform.
"Hey! Hold on, Rei! That's not fair! I found him first!"
Asuka stomped toward Rei.
"I found him first. I opened the door first, too."
"Huh? Did you really open it first? Wasn't it me who opened it?"
"Me. I climbed the stairs first, without making a sound."
Rei's voice carried its usual quiet confidence.
Asuka choked on her words.
"Wha—...what the... When did you even..."
"Because I thought Ikari-kun would run to the rooftop."
"Oh, is that so... You're still creepily observant when it comes to this idiot."
"...Asuka watches Ikari-kun far more than I do."
"Wha—!? What are you talking about! I don't—like you do—!"
"The day before yesterday, when Ikari-kun was buying yakisoba bread at the school store, he tripped once. At that moment, from the classroom window, Asuka was staring at Ikari-kun."
"Wha—...! I-I wasn't looking! That was just—I happened to glance out the window—and wait, why do YOU remember MY actions in such detail!?"
Asuka's face instantly turned bright red.
"I don't remember. It's just that Asuka's gaze was so noisy, so when I looked out the window, Ikari-kun tripped."
"...That's literally what remembering means!!"
Asuka clutched her head.
That was when.
"Heh. You two really do watch him closely."
A soft voice.
Before anyone noticed, Nagisa Kaworu had slowly climbed up from the rooftop entrance stairs.
His smooth silver-gray hair shimmered faintly in the afternoon light. His reddish-brown eyes were narrowed, looking only at Shinji.
"Shinji-kun. When I caught you, I wanted to give you music. I want to hear the sound of your heart again. The continuation of what happened in the music room."
Kaworu approached Shinji step by step.
His gait was elegant, as if walking across a stage.
"Kaworu-kun..."
"Don't run. ...No,
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