He was truly worthless.

This wasn't just self-deprecation, or even his depression acting up, it was no exaggeration to state that he was worthless. The facts remain simple, he had no worth.

His well of potential had run dry a while ago, and now at the age of thirty he was trapped at the bottom. Unable to escape his failures.

In his adolescence, he had simply been shy, a bit reserved, and anxious about making friends since he was constantly moving. A childhood friend was only a dream to him.

He couldn't remember his exact grades, but he knew they weren't the best or even good on average. He would firmly pin the blame on constantly transferring schools that were fluctuating on where they were in lessons. He had been unable to develop a foundation for certain concepts, as his education suffered.

As his family's situation settled, he had steadily improved his grades for a bit, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't catch up to his peers. While he was reviewing his work, they were advancing.

His grades weren't up to standards. Not just to the expectations of his teachers for an average student, but to the expectations of his parents for a gifted child. Having been tested at a young age, he apparently had amazing results on an intelligence quiz.

The expectation of his parents were obvious, and they even had some patience, understanding that the stress of their situation had affected him too. But still, they constantly reminded him that he could do better, that he should be doing better.

Steadily the weight of failure accumulated. He couldn't match his peers, he couldn't meet his parents' hope. No matter what he did, he couldn't achieve above average test scores. His brain was constantly swimming as he studied as hard as he could.

And then, in his second year of high-school, he just stopped. He no longer even tried, he gave up. His grades plummeted, and his parents turned sour towards him.

After a few months, he just dropped out. During those months, he attempted to make his first real friend, but found himself a fish out of water. He hadn't played games or watched television, because he had been studying in his free time.

There wasn't a single thing he shared in common with his classmates. And as the days passed, he realized just how isolated he was. Without a textbook to distract him, he observed his surroundings. People were in groups, laughing, smiling, enjoying their lives.

He was alone, and he had been alone. He had no shared experiences to reminisce about with anyone at school. The pressure this placed in his mental state wasn't minor, he cried in the middle of class for reasons he couldn't understand.

The atmosphere turned awkward around his classmates, which only made him want to cry more, so he just stopped going to school too. His education ended there.

If he was an only child, his future might've been different, but he had siblings. One older sister, one older brother, and one younger brother. And these circumstances allowed for his future to unfold as it did.

His sister was truly a mess, she was also a source of trauma for him that he preferred to ignore, since a young age she had been promiscuous. When he was still a child, she had held him down and stolen his first kiss, then she attempted to go further before their mother caught her.

Even though she was reprimanded, she didn't change her nature, she just changed her targets. Their parents received various calls from her classmates' parents. As a teenager, she had gotten pregnant and threatened to commit suicide if the father didn't agree to marry and support her.

His older brother was troubled to say the least, as a child he had a hard time controlling his short temper, and he turned into an almost stereotypical delinquent in his teenage years. He was hardly ever home, but when he was he wasn't pleasant to be around.

His younger brother was doing great, but not exceptional and no one was bothered by that. Since their parents had settled down in time for him to have a good environment, he grew up happy and satisfied in his life. Their older siblings mostly ignored him too, so he didn't have to deal with them. He was a natural athlete too, so overall, he was blessed.

It was his older sister and brother's fault that his parents had extra patience for him. He didn't do anything wrong, he just didn't do anything good either. His lack of significant issues, had led his parents to ignore him since he wasn't causing any harm.

And the years passed by as he locked himself away in his room.

The world continued on as he remained in place.

Abruptly, his parents died.

His father apparently had a stress induced heart attack while driving, and the resulting car crash also killed his mother. When told this news by his sobbing younger brother, he had been in the middle of watching the finale of an anime he really enjoyed.

"Uh, yeah, thanks for telling me." He offhandedly remarked as he unpaused the video.

Evidently, this wasn't the best response. The wooden door to his room slammed open as his younger brother exploded into the room in a fury with a metal baseball bat in hand.

After struggling to stand up in shock, he barely managed to get to his knees before cold metal smashed into his head. He crumbled down like a doll, and was barely conscious enough to hear the shrieking rant from his brother as he continued to strike his body.

His brain wasn't in the best state from the first hit, so he hardly felt the pain from the following hits.

The rant could be summarized as the laments of the youngest child as he watched his parents deteriorate before his eyes.

Unable to follow most of it through the ringing in his ears, he could just vaguely grasp what was being screamed about. His younger brother blamed him and his older siblings for the constant stress of their parents, which basically led to their deaths.

In his final moments of life, he was ridiculed for giving nothing back to his parents after receiving the gift of life. He provided nothing as he wasted away in his room, draining away at the money his parents made.

Before the final strike could smash into his skull, he was called worthless.

And that was the truth. An unfinished education. Never been employed. Made no efforts to return to society.

He had simply been a worthless NEET.

This reality had been something he was content with, but he wouldn't claim he was happy or even satisfied with it, no it was just how his life had ended up. There were a myriad of things he had wanted to experience, but he was just unable to do.

In his death, he held many regrets over his failure. And even though he did take some blame for his way of life, he still mostly blamed the circumstances surrounding his youth.

He could've done better.

He could do better.

He just needed the opportunity.

He just needed a chance to live a proper life.

…

…

Even though he had just died, he was still capable of thought. 'Is this the afterlife? Funny, I thought I'd be burning in hell, not just stuck in a black void.'

[Scan Start!]

[Skill: 'n%I=WX' Detected!]

[Soul Cleanse Halted!]

[…]

[No Prior Skills Detected!]

'Wait what? Skills? And n%I=WX? Uh, isn't that from the spider isekai? Or wait, I don't think it had an X. I'm pretty sure that skill was responsible for the reincarnations keeping their memories and junk? Is this reall—'

AN: I'm easily influenced by reviews, let me know what isekai y'all enjoy or dislike.

Some of these I love immensely, some of them I hate passionately, and others I don't have an opinion on.

Mushoku Tensei, Youjo Senki, Finest Assassin, Former Assassin, Knights & Magic, Prodigy Sefiria, Eminence Shadow, Ouroboros Record, Ascendance Bookworm, Death Mage, KumoDesu, TenSura, Re:Monster, Reincarnated Sword, Reincarnated Vending.

Dungeon Defense, Arifureta, KonoSuba, Shield Hero, Zero's Familiar, Overlord, Re:Zero, Death March, Space Mercenary, Villainess's Brother, Villager A, Solo Bug, Intergalactic Lord.

(Redo Healer, Goblin Slayer.)

And various others that I don't even think about, but I'll use a concept/character or two from.