Paper-Thin Disguise

Chapter 2: Something I Can't Explain

Eisuke thought he was slowly going crazy.

Agreeing to masquerade as an employee for a day just to get Baba to steal a necklace was stupid enough. But doing it again voluntarily? Clearly, there must've been something wrong with him. Baba's flights of fancy were starting to get infectious, he thought.

Never in a million years did he ever imagine standing in front of his closet looking for something—god forbid he say it— ordinary. Almost all of his clothes were too fancy to be considered remotely casual, and wearing them would basically be a dead giveaway to his identity. In fact, he probably didn't even own a normal t-shirt. What the hell do commoners even wear?

After about twenty minutes of fussing over his wardrobe, he settled on a white button-down shirt and a pair of black jeans he didn't even remember owning. All that was left was the wig and glasses.

"I still look devilishly good, but this should be commonplace enough," he said, approvingly giving a thumbs-up to his reflection on the mirror.

Let's do this.

Luckily for him, he was her boss, which meant he knew her weekly schedule by heart. Using that knowledge to his advantage, he'd make it look like he'd 'coincidentally' run into her at the staff room during her break time. A genius plan, if he had to say to.

He headed straight there the moment his watch read 2:30—he even set an alarm just in case. Sure enough, she was already there, fixing the stuff in her locker.

"Ichinose! I didn't think you'd be back here so soon," she exclaimed when she saw him coming in.

"Oh, it's you. I was just about to pick up the referral documents I left behind." Years of being a businessman gave him a talent of making shit up on the spot.

"I heard about it from Mr. Ichinomiya. You're transferring over to the neighboring hotel, right? That was pretty fast," she commented thoughtfully. "I enjoyed working with you, even if it was just for a day."

"Yeah," he uttered. How classy, Eisuke.

Well, he got what he came for, so now was an appropriate time to for him leave. However, he found himself lingering a bit longer than he expected. Damn his poor impulse control.

"Ah, before I forget," she scratched the back of her neck gingerly, "I'd like to thank you for telling Mr. Ichinomiya about me. I was really stunned when he suddenly called me and said stuff about how good an employee I was being. Didn't expect it from him, of all people."

Trust me, I didn't expect all of this either.

"It's obvious that good work should be rewarded. I merely told him what I saw that day," he remarked with a feigned indifference. God, he was getting sappy. This was probably the most number of times he's ever complimented a single person.

She made an inscrutable face, and for a moment he thought he offended her. But when she smiled shyly at him, his thought process came to a temporary halt. Definitely not good for his composure.

The opening door sounded another arrival, and Eisuke quickly turned to see who the interloper was.

"Hi there, ____. Oh, and Ichinose's here." Hikaru showed up right on cue, as if to mock him even further. Of all the times and people—

"Yes. I just came here to get something I forgot," 'Keisuke' asserted, keeping his tone even.

"Is that so?" Hikaru folded his arms meaningfully.