The morning after the under-bridge game smelled like frying oil and rust.
Tricycles growled awake, dogs barked at everything, and the city exhaled through a hundred cracked windows.
Teo walked with his hood up, a brown paper bag of medicine tucked under his arm.
He wasn't supposed to be here — not this deep into the side streets, not near the bridge again —
but his route somehow bent that way.
That was when he heard it.
The scrape of a metal chair. Laughter that bounced like a ball.
He looked left — and there was Riki.
Same shorts from last night, hair messy, smile untamed.
Sitting at a tiny carinderia beside the bridge, eating rice like it was a religion.
He scooped it with a dented spoon, added a splash of soy sauce, and grinned at the old lady behind the stall.
Riki: "Ate, extra rice, ha. My stomach's in overtime."
Ate: "You pay first, Riki-boy."
Riki: "Faith, Ate. Faith is the down payment of the hungry."
Teo almost smiled. Almost.
He crossed the street, pretending not to look interested.
But Riki spotted him anyway. Of course he did.
Riki: "Oi! Tower boy! What's up, skyscraper?"
Teo: "You're loud for someone who almost lost his lungs last night."
Riki: "Man's gotta eat to recover." (taps his plate) "Breakfast of champions — rice with anything."
Teo looked at the plate.
Half a boiled egg, a few slices of longganisa, rice piled like a small mountain.
Teo: "That's not breakfast. That's survival."
Riki: "Same thing."
Teo sat down without really deciding to.
The chair creaked under him like it wasn't built for someone that tall.
He wasn't hungry — but the smell of garlic and soy made him forget what he came for.
For a while, they just sat there.
Riki ate. Teo watched.
Kids ran past, barefoot, chasing a punctured basketball.
A jeepney rolled by, music spilling out the windows like laughter.
Riki: "You look like you're thinking about life or taxes."
Teo: "Neither. I'm thinking about how your jump shot breaks every law of physics."
Riki: "Then it's art, bro." (grins) "Under the bridge, the rim's got its own gravity."
Teo chuckled despite himself.
Then he noticed the details —
Riki's taped-up shoes, the frayed wristband, the thinness of his wrists.
The kind of signs you only see when you've never had to look for them before.
Teo: "You play for money?"
Riki: (shrugs) "When I can. Losers pay for food. Winners eat better."
Teo: "That's not… basketball."
Riki: (leans back) "To you, maybe.
To me, it's rent. Rice. My mom's meds. Sometimes just a reason to get outta bed."
The sound of tricycles filled the silence between them.
Teo didn't know what to say.
He came from a house with working lights, a father who once played pro ball, and a fridge that never stayed empty.
He never had to play to eat.
Riki wiped his mouth with his wrist and stood.
He tossed a few coins on the counter — counted twice, smiled once.
Riki: "Don't overthink it, skyscraper. It's just basketball."
That line landed hard.
Riki had thrown Teo's own words back at him — clean, effortless, like a no-look pass.
Riki stretched, yawning.
Riki: "We're running another 3-on-3 tonight. No bets. Just flow. You in?"
Teo: "No."
Riki: "Still too serious for fun?"
Teo: "Still too busy for nonsense."
Riki grinned, waved lazily.
Riki: "Funny. For someone who doesn't care, you keep showing up here."
Teo froze. He didn't have a comeback.
Then Riki grabbed his ball and started walking back under the bridge.
The sounds followed him — jeepneys rumbling, frying pans sizzling, bass from a corner speaker leaking into the air.
The same pulse as last night.
Not nature. Not quiet.
Just the music of people trying to live.
Before disappearing under the shadows of the floodlights, Riki glanced back.
Riki: "Come on… or don't. I got people who need looking after."
Teo stood there, medicine bag in hand.
Something twisted in his chest — pride, curiosity, maybe guilt.
He told himself it didn't matter.
He told himself he was done with basketball.
But then he moved.
One step.
Another.
Until he was walking with Riki toward the court.
And somewhere, under the noise, under the city's pulse,
something inside him started bouncing again.
End of Chapter 2