Kai knew he didn't have the whole story, but he didn't particularly need it either. There was just enough there to point him to all the conclusions that of course Shinji hadn't wanted to do it. Even if it was an admittedly much larger scale, he was still just controlled by his circumstances.

But more than that, and much more simply, Kai just simply believed he didn't deserve that treatment. The end.

So it was good that Shinji didn't try to argue, cuz Kai wasn't going to have it. "I know you don't," Kai assurred him firmly. "You don't have to be." The clutch of fabric smoothed as Kai rubbed slow circles across that spot. "If I'm helping, then I'm finally doing something right. We'll just keep going like this, okay? You've been doing real good."