Kendrix: ...on the other hand, while she’s fit & trained, she hasn’t been in a real fight yet, which from what I’ve heard from actual protesters, soldiers, riot police etc. is actually a big difference.The main way you learn to handle real fights is by being in a real fight, and there’s a huge difference between one who was and one who wasn’t.
There have been cases of karate blackbelts being mugged or raped because their freeze response kicked in, sport/training doesn’t per se get you ready for situations where there is a real danger to life & limb. So it makes sense that Asuka would be “a bit tense” here despite her cocky act. Shinji, meanwhile, is sort of able to snap into “business mode” at this point.
