>>2935694>why did she reject instrumentality?Thsi has nothing to do with her hating or not Shinji.
having to share her mind and inner secrets with the rest of the world in Instrumentality was certainly Asuka's worst nightmare. Also, if we look at it having in mind Anno's message (not to give up living), seeing Asuka there is indeed optimistic, since it kind of tells us: "if people as broken and insane as these two teenagers have decided to come back to reality (i.e. exit from a depression), anyone can as well".
>why would she respond to his hostility with a gentle caress?There will never be an explanation for that. The fact is that, whether it was a genuinely affectionate caress, or just Asuka's last way to resist him (she was probably exhausted after reforming herself in LCL), the truth is that her following action is to call Shinji disgusting in the "coldest voice possible", as Anno told Miyamura to say it.
This just reinforces the ambiguity of Asuka and Shinji's relationship. And without further clarification from Master Anno, there's nothing we can do but speculate and have our own opinions.
What I believe: it's the perfect example of how Hedgehog's Dilemma works: people who try to understand each other end up hurting themselves. And thus, the world will never become a place full of happiness and pleasure, since pride, ambition, hatred will be there to prevent full understanding between people. Or to say it in short: A.T. Fields prevent people from fully opening themselves to others.
