Despite his best efforts, Uriel was far from finishing his task. About one third of the library's floor was spotless, but the rest had been untouched. He cleaned as fast as he could so he could make the most of his time after, but he also did the best job he could to prove to Scofield that he made the right choice by hiring him.

And the librarian's thoughts were precisely those. He was deeply impressed by Uriel's good attitude and by how much effort he put into his job. He really didn't need help in keeping the library, there were many employees already, but everyone took it with ease and the place was a mess most of the time.

The reason why he hired Uriel was only to help him pay for his ticket without making him feel bad about himself, but seeing him work so hard actually changed his mind as he realized how helpful he could be if he kept that up.

Scofield did feel just a bit bad for not explaining to Uriel what he was supposed to do and let him take the initiative. He assumed the young student would lack in motivation just like anyone his age, but Uriel instead took it upon himself to clean the whole library.

"Young bookworm, there's no need to push yourself so hard, you don't need to clean everything right now. There's more people responsible for cleaning and if you do everything yourself you'll leave them without a job." Mister Scofield said awkwardly after faking a cough.

"It's ok, I just want to finish early so I can go back to study." Uriel heaved as sweat ran down his forehead. The only thing that kept him from falling to the floor was the broom he was now using as a walking stick.

"That's not how jobs work." The librarian chuckled. "You're just supposed to do your assigned task for a period of time and you can only go back to your studies once that time is over."

"That doesn't make any sense, isn't finishing the task what's important?" Uriel lifted a brow, his question was evidence of how ignorant he was on how society works. Mister Scofield was a bit surprised by that because he was under the impression that he was a very knowledgeable young student. Of course that didn't mean he would know how things are supposed to work, especially considering that this was his first job ever.

"Listen, if you finish your task your only reward would be another task. Take a look around, do you see the other janitors cleaning the place?"

Uriel did as mister Scofield asked and realized that there were two other janitors, but they were simply pretending to clean the place. One was moping the floor with a dead stare on his face, while the other walked from place to place pretending to be busy while listening to music.

"See? take a hint, it's important to pace yourself." Mister Scofield explained.

"But I really need to finish studying the ancient characters of the mayan language, I can't afford to spend too much time working. Is there a chance I could just finish the tasks you assign me so I can go back to my dorm?"

The librarian stared at Uriel with a blank expression, he couldn't believe the gall of this young man.

"Is it really so important to learn about that old language right now? can't it wait?"

"I mean, It could wait, but... while it's true I need to go to the incursion, I'm only doing it so I can learn more. There would be no point in getting a trait if i can't study."

"You make a fair point, but that's life. You can't simply choose how do you want to work."

"Can't you make an exception? I'm willing to work really hard so..."

"Fine, I'll let you do it as you please, but I don't want to hear you complaining about the tasks I ask of you." Receiving a quiet nod in reply, Mister Scofield continued. "You did a great job so far, but you're too tired now to keep brooming, the place is huge and you'll pass out before finishing. If you clean up the toilets you'll be free to go."

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His proposition wasn't intended to humiliate him in any way but to make him go back on his petition. Yet, Uriel didn't back down and, instead, headed to the bathrooms with a smile on his face.

Brushing and scrubbing the toilets was less tiring than his previous task, it was a bit uncomfortable and the stench was bothersome, but he was accustomed to doing chores. Of course cleaning your own toilet wasn't nearly as disgusting as cleaning a public toilet, especially since some repulsive people made a mess of them without even the slightest consideration towards the ones in charge of cleaning them.

Thanks to the repetitive task, though, Uriel soon found himself immersed in his own thoughts.

'Cleaning toilets has been considered one of the worst chores in human history and I can see why. Still, people from the medieval age truly had it worse, I have cleaning supplies and disinfectant, those poor bastards used to get sick and die without even enough money to pay for a doctor.'

Although it wasn't in the same way he wanted, he did experience at least some proximity to history and time flew by inside of his mind. Every single toilet was spotless and he was ready to go back to his dorm and bury his head in some book like he always did, but he quickly forgot about it when he stepped out of the bathroom.

"Don't you look handsome in that uniform, Urinal?" Mark smirked as he glanced at Uriel's messy appearance. He was standing right outside and, to make things worse, Tina Celes was standing right next to him.

"Uri!? what are you doing?" She gasped covering her gaping mouth with a hand.

Uriel wasn't sure why, but he felt embarrassed. He could feel hotness climbing up to his cheeks. He knew he didn't do anything wrong but he couldn't understand why did he feel so humiliated.

"Why are you standing like an idiot? you missed a spot!" Mark said, kicking the bucket to the ground causing a wet mess to cover the floor Uriel worked so hard to clean before.

"Uri, how could you do something like that to me!?" Tina turned on her heels. It may not have been his intention, but Uriel performing such a lowly task brought great shame to Tina. Uriel was her ex boyfriend, not just that, he had been her first boyfriend and, despite knowing that she didn't love him and the only reason she dated him was because she thought he was harmless and easy to manipulate, she lost a lot of face in front of everyone.

Her ex boyfriend was now the library's janitor.

Mark snapped a picture of his heartbroken 'friend' and ran towards Tina to console her, leaving Uriel to clean up the mess he made.

"Tina, I'm sorry I didn't know he would be here. I bet he did it only to embarrass you." Mark said as he placed his hand on her back, giving the impression that he was embracing her as they walked out.

Mister Scofield didn't miss the interaction in front of him, but he didn't intervene in any way. He limited himself to watch, knowing full well that there was nothing he could do to lift up Uriel's mood and, even if it was possible, it didn't mean it was something good.

'A man needs to face their own issues to grow as a person, but still, I think that guy took it too far.'

The librarian felt a bit responsible for what happened to Uriel, he was the one who asked him to clean up the bathroom, but his own life experiences allowed him to notice that none of what happened was a coincidence.

In the end, all mister Scofield did was clean up his glasses and take a mental note of that Mark guy.

Uriel placed the cleaning supplies and his uniform back into the closet before leaving. Understandingly, his mood was spoiled, so much so he didn't even take a book with him and headed back to his dormitory.

The following days passed by and he felt as if he was submerged into a mist, his thoughts were completely lost. He did everything he was supposed to do, the only difference was that he didn't put his heart into any of it.

He went to class, enduring the laughter of his classmates with his eyes lost, he participated in the physical training neither being the first nor the last, then he went to work. It was all the same, his usual routine.

The only one who could perceive the change was, of course, mister Scofield. Watching a young bookworm like Uriel hitting rock bottom was painful to see for Xavier Scofield, he saw much of himself on him and really wanted to help him. The only reason he didn't say or do anything to help him was because he know that he would only cause more harm than good.

"I'm done for today mister Scofield." Uriel said as he headed to the exit.

"Aren't you forgetting something young bookworm?" The librarian's voice resounded in the now empty library. Uriel thought back on the list of tasks he was supposed to perform today and he was certain that he had completed each and every one of them.

"I finished everything. Oh! is it because I'm not taking any books with me today? I don't really feel like reading so..."

"That's not it." mister Scofield shook his head. "Tomorrow is the incursion, you can't go if you don't receive your pay can you?" he said as he pushed a closed envelope on the counter.

Uriel smiled for the first time in almost a week as he quickly took the envelope with him.

"Don't forget I paid you in advance so you can go to the incursion, but you'll still need to come back and work here, at least until you earn your worth."

"Yes mister Scofield!" Uriel ran to his dorm to pack up his clothes and prepare for the big day tomorrow.