Lights Down Low (Adult Tetsurō Kuroo x OC)

And We Meet Again

"It's been some time, hasn't it, Kazuya?" Akira smirked at him.

"Wait how...but...wait, YOU!!!!" Realization hit Kenma hard like a brick. He didn't realize that the girl Kuroo kept talking about and in fact lost many nights of sleepover, the one who defeated him in Tekken, the one who was Kuroo's nightingale, was her.

This actually changed Kenma's demeanor, with him starting to scowl at Akira. "It's official. I don't like you."
Akira, unsurprisingly asks, "Kenma, but whyyyyyy?"
"You defeated me in Tekken 7, in front of my viewers, during my 5M special live stream!!!"

"To be fair, you won the first time, so you had a fair share of success already," she chuckled, while Kenma rolled his eyes. Everyone by that time had left for their second class. "It still is upsetting though," Kenma sighed.

She figured that kodzuken loves to finish games, and more importantly, win them. That's when she got an idea. "Tell you what, let's play another game of Tekken, at your place. If you win, then I'd agree that you're a better gamer than me."
"Oh, it's on!!!" Kenma and I shook hands, now staring at her with his twinkling eyes.

Akira's POV

As Kenma and I walked out of the class, we parted ways because we had different classes. University was going to be fun. Especially because Kenma's here, which makes me one step closer to Kuroo. Okay, why am I still thinking of him? Isn't he supposed to be my friend?!

Once classes were done, before I went to Kenma's house, I'd started searching for Shūji Hatoyama, the professor I wanted to work under as a research assistant. He wrote many research papers in his years of experience in sports technology and, yes, he's basically worked with many volleyball teams like MSBY Black Jackals, Sendai Frogs, and the entire Japan National Volleyball Team.

"Hatoyama-san?" I asked of him as I knocked on to his door.
"Yes, come in?"
No sooner had I entered the office than I greeted him by bowing my head. "Hello, I'm Akira Yōki, I believe you must have read my emails."

"Ah, yes, Nick and Takashi spoke with me about you." Wait, Nick Fisher  AND Takashi Utsui recommended me to him already?! Nick Fisher was my advisor when I was in Berkeley. I'd worked under him for some time. I forgot to mention that I'd transferred to UC Irvine to work under Takashi Utsui. I think that's how I know Wakatoshi Ushijima?

 I'm glad that despite my fallout with certain people, I had a good professional relationship with Mr. Fisher. To recommend me to someone of excellent repute in the field of sports technology is beyond me.

"Oh, I'm glad that Mr. Fisher spoke highly of me, Hatoyama sensei. In that case, let me get to the point. I want to work under you. I want to be the best sports analyst in Japan. With my knowledge of electrical engineering and data sciences and applying that in sports technology, I'd like to create sensors which when put on the athletes, would provide more details than the heartbeats. Here's my portfolio, which consists of the research papers I've worked on," I said as I handed a black folder to him.

The room grew silent. Hatoyama sensei was going through my years of hard work. I started tapping my fingers anxiously. I had no plan B. He's all I've got. Then, after what seemed to be a lifetime, but in actuality, it was fifteen minutes, I saw him smiling at me.

"Okay, I'll let you work under me. I can't pass up on having a student like you in my research group."
I beamed in joy. Hallelujah!
"But, on one condition. You've got to accompany me whenever I meet certain teams. Doesn't matter when. Also, you have to share your ideas with me, doesn't matter how stupid and reckless they can be. I don't take students often under my wing, but you seem to have a lot of potential. So, I'll need you to keep sharing ideas. Journal them."