Shinji looked slightly disgusted, and he wasn't entirely sure what to say. It always irritated him when he received pity from others regarding Japan's political situation, and he couldn't say it impressed him anymore when it came from people who'd also come from bad situations. It was like, hey, yeah, so I'm a kid and I had to put up with something you didn't, but that doesn't mean I didn't deal.
As such, he'd never been particularly good with sympathy; he wasn't fond of receiving anything that was overly sentimental (but a little token was fine; it was nice to know that people cared), and had never been anywhere near skilled in saying anything in kind. And to think that Yutaka wondered why Shinji would bother being friends with him. They had different good and bad points.
Therefore, he remained silent for a few moments, almost awkwardly so whilst he attempted to think of something to say. Nothing came to him.
"Huh. Sounds like that kinda sucked", he commented eventually, a hint of humour in his voice.