Book 1- Chapter 3: Don't Read too Quickly
Now we'll meet Giotto Vongola, the boss who hired the new sucker Jenna.
Nah! Just kidding, we'll be meeting his nephew Sawada Tsunayoshi.
Young Tsuna (as referred to by friends) is actually a famous artist under the name of 27. Outside of school, you'll most like find him in one of four places: his room, his art studio (given to him by his grandfather), his mother's kitchen, or Uncle Giotto's office.
That is where this unfortunate young man happened to be when Jenna came bursting through the door with murder written all over her face.
"Ah, Jenna! I knew you'd be back around now," Giotto called out jovially.
Tsuna squeaked and tried to completely disappear into the couch he was seated upon in the hopes that this new woman wouldn't notice and turned her wrath onto him. He really should have been used to this sort of thing by now, really. Uncle Giotto seemed to have a way of pissing people off on a regular basis.
"You...You..." Jenna seethed, not seeming to find an insult bad enough for how she viewed the man seated before her. She took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down and plastered her business smile onto her face as she held up the same piece of paper that Reborn had shown her just a few moments ago (having stormed out of the cafe as soon as she had seen it). "What is this?"
"You'll have to be more specific my dear," Giotto said happily, clearly having fun messing with his new employee.
The coral haired woman's eyebrow twitched with the strain to keep her business smile in place. "It says here that my position is as Reborn's manager and then his editor. I clearly went to school and worked to become an ed-i-tor and have had no experience, nor knowledge as a manager. So please explain to me why you have tasked me with something out of my skills range."
"Because it sounded more fun!"
Jenna dropped to her hands and knees in despair, defeat, and many other negative emotions that slammed into her with that one cheerfully stated sentence.
Tsuna couldn't help but sigh in agreement with the woman, shaking his head. Uncle Giotto was so mean sometimes. He couldn't help but feel pity for this poor woman who was not only assigned to Uncle Reborn from the sounds of it, but she had to deal with Uncle Giotto too.
"That's completely irresponsible!" The woman shouted after recovering. "How can I perform duties as manager when I don't even know what I would be expected to do! Not to mention, I didn't even want to be the editor of Reborn, why the hell would I want to be his manager! I've spent maybe ten minutes with him and I already-...well, I don't know what to make of him. But he looks like the type that would purposely try to piss people off!"
Tsuna shook his head again. Poor, poor woman. Didn't she see that her reaction was only amusing his uncle? Uncle was probably going to bait her now and use reverse psychology to get her to take the job seriously.
"Are you saying that you aren't capable of such a simple task?"
See. Now this woman's pride is going to make her-
"Hell yes!"
Tsuna blinked rapidly and turned to look at the woman incredulously. Was she admitting to her faults?
The woman crossed her arms, her features falling into a serious look. "I'm nowhere near capable and jobs such as these cannot have someone who's learning along the way. Please place the person suited for this position properly."
The brunet stared in awe. This person was so honest about herself, feeling confident enough in her strengths and clearly stating her weaknesses. He had never met anyone capable of doing so, so openly. Even he, who used to have his faults pointed out on a regular basis, didn't like stating his incapabilities to others. A small smile crept onto Tsuna's face. He kind of wanted to get a chance to interact with this woman.
Giotto smirked when he noticed the look on his nephew's face. "Speaking of managing clients, why don't I introduce you to my nephew Tsu-kun!
"Hiiiiiie!" The brunet squealed in horror. Why Uncle? Why!
"Well, Sawada Tsunayoshi, and he's an artist!" The blond continued cheerfully. "The media know him as 27 though!"
Please don't get mad scary lady! He was sorry that his Uncle could be such an idiot sometimes!
"You're an artist?" Jenna raised her eyebrows in interest, crouching over slightly next to the boy to take a look at the sketch pad he had working on. "What type?"
"A-a-a-all t-types really," the boy muttered, a blush blooming across his face. "But I like sketching and painting on a canvas the most."
The blood-orange eyed woman smiled, not that business or socializing smile, but a real one. "That's really neat, do you mind if I see some?"
Tsuna nodded timidly and held up his pad for the woman to rifle through, watching nervously as she looked at the different pictures he had drawn. He chewed his lip anxiously when she stopped on a page and tilted her head to the side.
Jenna scrunched up her face slightly and handed back the book. "I like nearly all of them, but this ones here...You shouldn't draw happy pictures when you yourself are upset. The framework shows you started out feeling pretty good, but it seems that afterward you we hit with a really big downer."
The brunet stared up in surprised. Not only was that the first time that someone had given him constructive criticism for his work (which he had been desperately searching for), but they had also pinned his mood exactly to the point. He smiled. He was really happy that someone finally noticed. "Yeah, someone said something while I was drawing, but I didn't want to leave the picture half done so I kept going."
Jenna nodded and smiled a little again, poking the boy's forehead. "When you're really good at something and people admire that ability, they tend to look past the points that need to improve and their compliments become hollow. But that just means you have to challenge yourself more to look for areas you think need to be improved so that you can go beyond what you are already creating, right?"
"Un!" Tsuna nodded brightly.
"I'm glad you two like each other because you will be managing Tsu-kun as well by the end of this next month!" Giotto announced.
The coral haired woman fell over, her head slamming into the coffee table in front of the couch the brunet was occupying.
"Hiiiiiiie! Uncle wait!" Tsuna protested, moving to stand in front of his family member's desk as the woman behind him held her head in pain. "Jenna-san already had Reborn to take care of! Not to mention, she hasn't met Rinato or the other two, so it's really like she's managing four people already!"
"Gah! I forgot!" The woman cried out, remembering Reborn's condition.
The younger male grimaced in pity, but pushed onward. "Most managers only have to work with one and Jenna-san said that she's never been a manager before, so even if you won't change her position, you really shouldn't overwhelm her!"
"To a new manager and employee, I really shouldn't," the blond agreed. "But I've decided to treat Jenna like one of our seniors because I can see that she'll be doing great things! Haven't you noticed that Reborn hasn't tried to kick her out yet?"
The two males ignored the sounds of thumping as the only woman in the room hit her head against the wall, surrounded by a shroud of gloom and darkness.
"Still Uncle, please be more considerate to other people," Tsuna insisted. "Jenna-san hasn't had a chance to settle into the company yet and you should take a look at the other applications first. Maybe Jenna-san would apply for another client later, but I think it would be too much right now."
"That's why I'm not assigning her until the end of next month," Giotto dismissed easily. "Besides Tsu-kun, she's the first person outside of our family that you've really opened up to. You like her, right? And I think she would be very good for you."
"Then trade Tsuna for Reborn!" Jenna jumped back in, hope clearly defined in her eyes. "Tsuna is a good kid and I wouldn't mind spending all the time I needed outside of work to become a good manager for him! And Reborn is every editor's worst nightmare!"
The boss smirked. "But Jenna, you signed up as an editor. However, if you work with Reborn in both positions, you'll be able to train as a manager. Oh? When did we hit the mute button?"
The girl had gone off to shout and motion around like she was ranting and raving, though everything she did and said was silent.
"Uncle," Tsuna sighed exasperatedly.
The blonde chuckled, but decided to compromise. "Look, how about this: if by the end of next month if you and Reborn clearly can't get along, then I'll work on getting you a different client, alright?"
"Really?" Jenna asked hopefully.
Giotto nodded. "But it has to be clear to not only me, but the other heads of Vongola corporations, that you and Reborn don't work well together."
The coral haired woman weighed her options and sighed when she realized that it was either agree or just give in. "Okay, okay. That seems like the best I can get right now anyways."
Tsuna sighed silently and shook his head. Oh Jenna-san, you just unwittingly sold the remainder of your soul to Uncle Giotto just now.
Next chapter: Annoying neighbors and the child in the flower pot.