[Well, that's a good point. But counterpoint: Shinji is stubborn.]

...Look, I just mean, you don't exactly expect a dead guy to come back and go on some regret-fixin' adventure in outer space.

[He shrugs a shoulder, uncomfortably. He knows it's not a great argument.]

If we really get to put things the way we'd have wanted 'em, it doesn't need to have ever happened at all. He could grow up a regular kid.

[Well. As regular as you can get when the Dark Hour happens to you every night, but still.]