[When she steps in front of him, he freezes up out of his weird mix of fear and stubbornness. Refusing to give in to her (or anyone at Wille for that matter), he diverts his eyes and ignores whatever she's trying to do as much as possible.]

...I was at NERV.

[Actually, it was that awful Shogi match with Fuyutsuki-sensei, but he's not about to open up to Asuka about any of that. After several seconds of silence has passed, he takes a few steps back from her.]

There aren't any Evas here for me to pilot. Why would it go off? If it's broken already then it's broken.

[just tell yourself that, Shinji. it's better than worrying about spontaneously dying at any moment.]