Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Shinji attends school in Tokyo-3 while continuing repetitive training for his work at Nerv. He has made few friends, and news that he pilots the Evangelion attracts attention he does not know how to handle. Toji Suzuhara reacts with anger because his younger sister was injured during the earlier battle. He hits Shinji, dismissing the explanation that Shinji never wanted the assignment. Their confrontation ends when Rei delivers an emergency summons. Another Angel has arrived, and Shinji must return to Unit-01. Meanwhile, Kensuke Aida persuades Toji to leave the evacuation shelter with him so they can watch the fighting directly.
Shinji's rifle fire fails to stop the Angel, which attacks with luminous whips and throws Unit-01 toward the hillside where the boys are hiding. The Eva narrowly misses them, but loses its external power cable. Shinji tries to protect his classmates as Nerv's remaining time runs down. Misato orders the boys into the entry plug and tells Shinji to withdraw. Instead, he charges with his progressive knife and drives it into the Angel's core, holding on until the enemy dies and the Eva's battery empties. Toji and Kensuke watch him break down inside the cockpit. Days later, Toji struggles to make the telephone call that would begin his apology.