Chapter 11 – Marketing Department
Novel Title: 跨越千万星辰 (Across Thousands of Stars)
Author：御小凡 (Yu Xiaofan)
Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)
Protagonists: 泽田纲吉 (Sawada Tsunayoshi -MC), 六道骸 (Rokudo Mukuro -ML)
*Please read at Novels Space.space, the original site of translation. TQ*
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“What?! I don’t believe it. It’s unrealistic!” Tsuna suddenly raised his voice on the phone. Mukuro glanced at him but didn’t say anything. He just picked up the remote control and switched to another channel.
“I did a good job in the planning department. Why did you transfer me to the marketing department?! It eats people and doesn’t spit out the bones. I’m already the head of the team so where are you planning to put me in now?” Tsuna frowned. In order not to disturb Mukuro watching TV, Tsuna stood up and walked to the balcony. God knows how much effort he spent to get a smooth life in the planning department but now it has come to this.
He doesn’t want things to end up like this.
“Oh, don’t get emotional. The marketing department is the core department of our company. You should know that.” Iemitsu’s voice was not affected by Tsuna’s emotions in the slightest. The old man was simply narrating the established facts, “The planning department’s work is closely related to the marketing department. I’m sure you can adapt quickly.”
“It’s too easy for you to say that!” It’s not that Tsuna can’t understand Iemitsu’s meaning. From the time he graduated and entered the headquarters of Vongola’s Asian branch, his way to climb up was arranged already for him to take over his shares smoothly in the end. He also resisted passively in the early days. But after he went to college, he was brainwashed by Reborn so he was already mentally prepared. But being arranged like this is really… really, really, not cool at all.
He held the phone as he patted the ground impatiently with the soles of his feet.
“The transfer letter will come out the day after tomorrow. I’m just informing you first to prepare you mentally. Hmm, do it well.”
“You’re not ashamed to call this a mental preparation. Isn’t it too sudden?! Anyway, how about giving me a week to prepare mentally? You… Hello? Hello?!” There was a beeping sound from the other end of the line. The back of Tsuna’s hand which was holding the phone displayed faint veins on it. The time after dinner that should have been used to relax and be comfortable was ruined so abruptly. Why did he feel that his dear father and him were becoming even worse at communicating with one another? Is this the so-called generation gap of human nature?
“What’s the matter?” Mukuro was still staring at the TV that kept changing channels and asked casually. Tsuna came back and threw himself on the sofa. He glanced at the TV screen that was finally decided to be stopped at the financial channel. He leaned back on the sofa, “I’m going to be transferred into another department.”
“Oh, are you promoted again? Congratulations.” Mukuro tilted his head towards Tsuna. He then turned his head slightly, raised his eyebrows and smiled.
The young man’s youthful eyebrows have been slowly growing. If he looked delicate when he was young,even though his face is still a little immature now, he can still be regarded as handsome. But because of his age, his face looks too delicate. Sometimes Tsuna feels that the only way to describe this boy is that he is beautiful.
“It’s an inter-department transfer. According to my estimation, it’s a demotion transfer.” The ‘beautiful smile’ defined by Tsuna which had been flashed before his eyes changed. Tsuna cast his eyes on the ceiling weakly. His intuition has always been accurate. And now his Intuition told him that his future would be miserable.
“Why? Did you do anything wrong?” The tone at the end of the sentence rose lightly, which was very different from the way he spoke two years ago. At that time, no matter what Mukuro said, he seemed to be emotionless. Now, he can naturally integrate the ups and downs of emotions he wants to express into his tone. It is spoken in the voice of a teenager in the voice-changing period. It was like the low and deep strings of a cello.
“I think I can be rated as the top ten most disciplined employees in the whole company.” It’s a pity that my father was impatient, he thought to himself and ruffled the hair on his forehead. Tsuna slipped to the side and fell on the sofa depressedly. He looked as if he almost shrunk in the exclusive posture of being ‘so painful’. He silently drew out information about the marketing department in his head.
Mastering the dynamics of the market has a decisive influence on the company’s decision-making, including the executive department. The head of this department, Kyoya Hibari, can really be said to have absolute power in the company.
At the same time, it is also his existence that gave other departments various painful memories…
Tsuna’s hair was caressed suddenly. He didn’t need to think about who it was. Tsuna moved his head. But the slight movement was not enough to escape the other party’s hand. He felt a little helpless, “You are doing this again…”
“Because doing this feels good~” It can be clearly heard that the owner of the voice is in a good mood. Tsuna is too lazy to argue about this kind of thing. He didn’t know when this kid started to like caressing his hair. Occasionally, Tsuna has the feeling that he was being treated like a pet. Although it is a bit weird, it was not to the point of disgust. He would just treat the kid’s intimacy as primitive and allow him to caress his hair here and there. But he will not offer it by himself.
“I’ll buy you a plush toy next time.”
Ignoring this fact and if there was nothing more to seriously complain about, Mukuro liked this kind of time very much. It should be said that he liked all the physical contact he could have with Tsuna. This would make him calm down quickly in any mood. Mukuro’s hands twirled around Tsuna’s slightly long hair by the ear. It accidentally slipped down from the sideburns and slid to brush against his ear.
Tsuna’s ears are relatively small but the contours are regular and round. The place which was rich with blood vessels is slightly pink in colour. It looks very beautiful. Mukuro lowered his head sideways and pinched his small earlobes curiously. But Tsuna seemed surprised by this action and unconsciously sat up frantically, “Aah…!?”
His eyes were widened exaggeratedly in shock. He restrained himself from wanting to cover his own ears and stared at Mukuro with a slight embarrassment on his face. The boy blinked and looked back at him innocently.
It can’t be blamed for Tsuna’s reaction to be that way. His ears usually get goosebumps when someone even blows his breath on them. To put it bluntly, his ears are one of his very sensitive areas of his body. And Mukuro had just directly touched it like that.
“Hmm, I’ll… go to the bathroom…” Feeling that the strange atmosphere in this moment is difficult to explain, Tsuna stood up as if he was unable to sit still. He then walked quickly to the bathroom.
Behind him, Mukuro watched his figure disappear behind the bathroom door before looking back at his own palms. He rubbed his fingers together as if recalling the feeling he had just now.
His brows frowned slightly due to thinking.
As Iemitsu said, two days later, Tsuna was officially transferred to the third section of the marketing department. Chief Kawahira sincerely wished him a better development in the new department.
But what is wrong with your look of sympathy?! Tsuna wailed in his heart.
Nonetheless, Tsuna still carried the cardboard box containing all his office equipment and reported to the third class of the marketing department. In a trance, he returned to himself who had just graduated and returned to China. He needed to start from scratch. But this time, the computer screen opposite of him is no longer that of various planning cases. But it was huge data listed in several tables.
On the second day of working in the marketing department, Tsuna finally met the legendary Kyoya Hibari.
He has crow-feather-like black hair and a desolate expression on his face. People couldn’t help but tremble when he walked by them. He was like a blizzard in human form.
How should he put it… In terms of temperament, Chief Hibari is more like a leader who is above everyone. Compared to himself, he is only supported by his father. The so-called strong aura is like this, right? If the upper and lower classes in the company can be compared to a food chain, this guy’s temperament is like the one at the top, without a doubt.
He has a handsome appearance, a cold image, and he was in the position of leader. If Tsuna is a girl, maybe he will have all kinds of fantasies about Hibari with the other female colleagues.
But now, he just thinks seriously to himself that this person looks really hard to serve…
At present, Tsuna doesn’t have to worry about whether Hibari will treat him well because what he has to face is the most basic job of entering the marketing department. He has to sort out the most effective data from the huge and cumbersome reports submitted by the researchers. He then draws all kinds of needed icons based on this data. After that, he makes a vertical comparison with the previous icon data, analyses, summarises, and horizontally compares them with other data in the same industry.
Facing the overwhelming digital and graphic lords, Tsuna’s brain buzzed. It became overwhelming all at once.
This is definitely a double superposition of mental work and physical work. At the beginning, Tsuna really had a sense of fear that his brain capacity might not be enough. The data could not be taken out of the company so he started working overtime in the company again. He even dreamed of countless Excel icons smashing to himself at night.
The torment during this long adaptation period is different from the troubles he encountered when he first became the head of a team. After all, Tsuna can’t simply hand in his resignation letter. So other than trying hard to adapt himself to the current job as soon as possible, he has no other options.
This department really deserves to be called the legendary hellish field.
Within a week after entering the department, Tsuna had fully understood where all the departments’ respect for the marketing department came from. When he returned home, if it wasn’t for Mukuro, Tsuna would have fallen asleep on the bed and he wouldn’t have time to eat dinner. The kid escorted Tsuna to the dining table and let him swallow the meal he left on purpose, “You lie down on the sofa first. I’ll fill in the bath water for you and you can take a bath later.”
After cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks, Mukuro went to the bathroom to fill in the water in the tub. In the living room, Tsuna lay lazily on the sofa and didn’t want to move. His head was a little dizzy from overuse. Mukuro walked over and sat down. He then moved his head to his lap.
“Huh?” This divine development made Tsuna want to stand up to see what’s going on. But he heard the young man say with a sense of command, “Don’t move.”
Mukuro massaged the corresponding positions of Tsuna’s scalp using his ten fingers and rubbed them with moderate strength. Tsuna was so comfortable that he immediately lay back on Mukuro’s lap obediently.
“The muscles here are so tense. How tiring is your work?” Mukuro asked in a low voice, moving his thumb to Tsuna’s temple. He used a little more strength in exchange to hear Tsuna’s unconscious comfortable moan coming out of his throat.
It was a moan produced by someone unconsciously when they felt extremely comfortable. It was very short and light but it quickly slid across Mukuro’s heart like a cat’s claw. It caused his movements to stop unconsciously as well.
He narrowed his eyes. For some reason, his throat slid up and down like he was thirsty for water.
Mukuro suddenly felt very anxious. The sense of security that he usually felt when he was in close contact with Tsuna was replaced by this sudden sense of anxiety. Just because of his superb massaging technique, Tsuna’s headaches were relieved somewhat. He got up automatically as he rubbed the back of his own head, “The water should be filled by now? I have to take a bath tonight…”
After speaking, he got off the sofa, leaving Mukuro alone on the sofa in a daze.
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*Author’s Note:
[As for touching the ear, I don’t know what the person concerned was thinking about? XD ]
Tsuna [blushes]: It’s not much of a big deal. I just feel quite embarrassed in front of someone much younger.
Mukuro [laughs]: Oh, can we do it again?
[XD will give you a chance]
-YXF
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*Translator’s Note: If you are all curious, Tsuna is actually the son of the boss/biggest shareholder of the company, Iemitsu Sawada. -K
Next update: 2023.06.19
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