Kazuma was known for being a shut-in, or rather to Aqua and others in Japan specifically. He spent most of his time in his room gaming and only leaving to buy food or new games. But coming to this parallel world, he was no longer a shut-in. He went on adventures, fought monsters, demon king generals, a giant mechanical robot, and even made friends.

But despite how different his life is now than back in Japan, there was one thing that didn't change.

The stares.

In school, Kazuma was bullied for loving anime so much, often referred to as an otaku. Many girls would laugh at him while the boys would pick on him. Names and insults were thrown at him. To put the cherry on top, his first love had long forgotten her promise to him and was with another boy. All of this pushed him into the shut in life he led before his reincarnation. Even from his parents and younger brother he had to deal with their judgments about him.

While his reputation has increased in Axel due to his achievements of defeating several demon king generals, as well as taking down the mobile fortress the Destroyer, that didn't mean his reputation was all good.

In his time in Axel, he has earned the nicknames "Kazuma the Brute", "KazuTrash", "CrapZuma", and "ScumZuma". Some of those were used against him in the past in school. But those were just the ones the public called him. Aqua constantly called him a "HikiNEET", "LoliNEET", "PedoNEET", and "Shut-In NEET". Of course, he did earn some of these nicknames with how crass he was to his party members that only consisted of females, stealing panties with his "Steal" ability, and other actions.

He was insulted in public and insulted at home. By strangers or ones he called friends. Past life or current, he couldn't escape the stares and words.

It just followed him.

Kazuma was sitting in the Adventure Guild with Darkness and Megumin, eating lunch before heading out for a quest. Aqua was late, so they started to eat without her. For once it was a peaceful meal.

"KAAAAAZUUUMAAAAAAA"

That is, until Aqua burst through the doors, screaming his name.

'Oh dear, here we go...' He thought to himself.

"Yes, I'm Kazuma." He said in a monotonous voice, knowing what's coming next.

"You gotta help meee!"

"What did you do this time?" He deadpanned.

"Well see, while I was walking here, I stopped by the liquor stall in the town market, and they offered a sample for a drink, and it was so good I said I'll take it and drank more of it, but then they told me it was their most expensive alcohol, and it costed a hundred thousand eris!!! You gotta help me Kazumaaaaa." Aqua started crying at the end as she asked for help.

"Again with your debts... Go earn your own money!" He scolded.

"Why won't you help me?! Stupid Hiki-NEET, you should be helping a goddess like me!" She said, pointing to herself like she was a noble or something.

"You mean a useless goddess..." Kazuma muttered, but Aqua heard.

"Why you!" She grabbed his collar and started shaking him.

"I am not a useless goddess! You Baka-NEET! You treat me so badly for a Shut-In NEET when you should be praising me!"

As Aqua ran her mouth, Kazuma noticed the stares they were getting. It was not uncommon for this to happen as it was often his party that caused scenes.

Though what did bother him was a table of girls who were looking at him with wary eyes.

"Look at that, its them again."

"He made a girl cry again."

"He really is Scumzuma isn't he?"

"After all, his only skill is stealing panties."

"And claiming to willingly drop kick women"

"He's the worst!"

"Scumzuma! Scumzuma! Scumzuma!" They chanted.

Eventually the whole building was talking about them. Or more specifically about him.

"He's with an Arch-Priest, an Arch-Wizard and a Crusader, yet he's just and adventurer, I bet he's just lazing around while they do all the work."

"I hear he's into covering girls with slime"

"He really is the worst isn't he."

All eyes were on him.

And of course he couldn't ignore the one in front of him, shaking him.

"Baka! Crapzuma! Hiki-NEET! Loli-NEET! Shut-In NEET!"

'Enough...'

His mind wandered back to school where he was picked on.

"Otaku! Nerd! Kazutrash!"

The child covered his ears as he tried to block out the words of others.

"Trashzuma! NEET! Otaku!"

Kazuma suddenly slammed his hand on the table and stood up.

"ENOUGH!"

This silenced everyone in the guild, and even startled his party members.

His fist was shaking as he clenched it hard.

"Enough... I'm tired of this..."

"K-Kazuma?" Aqua asked warily, slightly scared of his sudden action.

He reached into pockets and pulled out a small pouch with the eris she needed and just tossed it on the table, some of the coins leaking out of it.

He then walked away from the table, making his way to the exit.

"W-Wait! Kazuma!" Megumin called out.

"What about our quest?!" Darkness asked.

"Forget it..." He muttered.

"What?! Kazuma you can't just go-" Aqua started but was cut off.

"I SAID FORGET IT!" Kazuma shouted angrily.

In all the time they have been together, they never heard this tone from him. Sure many times in the past he's been angry, but this time felt different.

He turned around, which gave them something to see that they have never seen before.

Tears

He was crying, but his eyes didn't look sad. Rather, they just seemed empty.

"Shut-In NEET, right Aqua? It's what I am and what I do best, right?" He asked, giving her a smile that seemed forced and hollow instead of happy.

With that, he turned around again and left the Guild hall. On his way out he bumped into Chris, who he gave a quick but quiet apology to and continued on his way.

Everyone was speechless.

While Kazuma acted up at times, but he never seemed like that before.

"W-What just happened?" Chris asked, confused at the way everyone looked.