I glanced at Evelyn as I continued my meal. It looked like she had inherited my voracious appetite just fine, except for the eggplant dish that remained nearly untouched in front of her.
The rest of the meal was equally light: a small salad, some grilled vegetables, bread, and a bowl of clear soup. Nothing particularly extravagant, which I appreciated after everything that had happened today.
What surprised me was how quickly my hunger disappeared.
I had barely worked my way through what I would normally have considered the beginning of a meal when I felt as though my stomach was screaming at me to stop.
I slowed down and looked at what remained on my plate.
That was it?
Normally, I could have eaten three times this much without thinking about it.
Then again, Evelyn was considerably smaller than me. It made sense that the amount of food her body needed—or could comfortably hold at once—would be different as well.
I rested one hand against my bare stomach for a moment. It seemed to be protruding slightly after I had eaten without holding back.
Another adjustment to add to the list.
Across from me, Evelyn was eating considerably more than I was.
Seeing my own body calmly working its way through a portion that would have been perfectly ordinary for me somehow made the difference even more obvious.
She noticed me looking.
“What?”
“You should eat your vegetables.”
I spoke with a small sense of spite as I pointed toward the nearly untouched eggplant dish in front of her.
Ignoring my words, her eyes briefly moved toward my half-finished dishes.
“You’re already full?”
“What if I am?”
A faint smile appeared on her face.
“You’ll get used to it. It also makes it easier to maintain your figure.”
I narrowed my eyes at her.
“You say that about everything. It’s not like I want to get used to such things.”
“Because you keep encountering things you need to get used to.”
Unfortunately, she had a point.
I looked back at the roasted eggplant and, despite already feeling full, took one final small piece.
At least some of the surprises that came with this body were pleasant.
Only after setting my utensils down did the thought that had been lingering at the back of my mind finally return.
I looked toward Evelyn.
“There’s one thing I still don’t understand.”
She continued eating without any particular concern.
“Only one?”
I ignored her sarcasm and continued.
“Tomorrow. The assessment is supposed to be for Nathan Gold.”
“It is.”
“But I’m obviously not Nathan Gold at the moment.”
Evelyn finally stopped eating and looked at me as though the answer should have been obvious.
“You won’t be the one taking it.”
I stared at her for a moment before my eyes slowly moved over my own face.
“Oh.”
That made an uncomfortable amount of sense.
Evelyn leaned back slightly in her chair.
“The hospital already has medical confirmation that Nathan Gold Awakened a spatial manipulation type ability. Tomorrow, I’ll undergo the assessment in your place. As far as everyone involved is concerned, Nathan Gold will simply be demonstrating his newly Awakened ability.”
I frowned.
“You’re going to take my Awakening assessment for me.”
“Technically it is mine, Nathan Gold’s awakening test.”
“With my ability.”
“Again, it is mine now. No matter how much you reject the truth, we don’t have any other choice”
There was far too much satisfaction in the way she said that.
“You’ve only used it successfully a few times.”
“Which is more successful than you’ve ever managed.”
I opened my mouth, then closed it again.
She had me there.
The only time I had deliberately activated my supposed spatial-manipulation ability, I had somehow thrown my consciousness into a woman standing several metres away and ended up spending the rest of the night learning how to walk in heels, remove makeup, and discover that I apparently liked eggplant now.
Perhaps I wasn’t in the best position to criticize her performance.
“What am I supposed to do while you’re impersonating me?”
“Go to work. We need to show people that Evelyn Vale remains unaffected by the accident.”
I stared at her, dumbfounded that she had even made such a proposal.
“What!?”
Evelyn calmly repeated her words without a change in expression.
“You need to make an appearance.”
“I have been inside your body for less than a day, Evelyn. I don’t think handing me control of one of the largest companies in Arc City is a particularly responsible decision.”
“I’m not asking you to run the company.”
“Why can’t I remain here until we find a way to undo the swap? Isn’t that much safer for both of us?”
“Not exactly.”
I frowned.
Evelyn set her utensils down before continuing.
“Your disappearance has already created enough uncertainty. If you don’t make an appearance tomorrow, people will start wondering whether I was seriously injured, kidnapped, or otherwise incapable of appearing in public. None of those rumors would be particularly helpful to Vale Group. More importantly, they would give my enemies an opportunity to make a move.”
That made considerably more sense.
“So, all I have to do is stay in your office and play games?”
“Exactly. You arrive with Sera, let the reporters take a few photos or say a few words, show the people that I’m perfectly healthy and unaffected, spend some time in my office, and leave.”
“No meetings?”
“Sera has cleared out your schedule.”
“No documents?”
“Absolutely not, Sera will handle everything, in fact, don’t touch anything you shouldn’t”
Hearing her last few words of distrust hurt my confidence.
“Fine, I would have handled it just fine even if you gave me a few tasks to do.”
I put on a brave front. The last thing I needed was to accidentally sign away several billion credits because I had misunderstood corporate terminology.
“Since you insist so much, I will have Sera find a few tasks you can handle.”
It seemed that my pride had caused me to suffer once more.
Evelyn seemed to read something from my expression.
“Don’t worry, Sera will stay with you. If somebody approaches you unexpectedly, let her handle the conversation whenever possible. You don’t need to convince everyone that you suddenly became an expert on my work overnight. You simply need to look composed enough that nobody suspects there is a problem.”
“That sounds considerably harder than you’re making it seem.”
“You’ll manage. I wouldn’t entrust you with my life if I didn’t trust you.”
I felt strange seeing her so confident in me. After all, we had known each other for less than a day, and I wondered what could make her trust me in such a short amount of time.