(Manila — 2030)
The printer was already broken when they got there.
Renz stared at the flashing red light like it was mocking him.
Bornok leaned over his shoulder, chewing gum, whispering, "Try hitting it."
Mario, still half-asleep and holding three folders, sighed. "You can't hit enrollment, bro."
The clerk at the corner of the State University admin building didn't even look up. "Next please!"
Renz raised his hand, hesitant. "Uh, Miss, the printer's having feelings again."
The clerk sighed, tapped a key, and the machine spat out one crumpled page.
"Congratulations," she said. "You're officially enrolled."
Renz grabbed the paper, half-proud, half-confused.
Bornok peeked at his own form. "Mine says 'Pre-requisite missing.' What's that mean?"
Mario didn't even blink. "Means you're missing the thing you need before the thing you want."
Bornok frowned. "So... like money?"
Mario just shook his head.
By lunch, the three of them were lost in a hallway full of posters and echoes.
State U wasn't home yet. It smelled like floor wax and ambition.
Renz squinted at a bulletin board full of foreign exchange flyers.
"Korean club," he read out loud. "Maybe I join that."
Bornok raised a brow. "You? You barely pass Filipino."
Renz grinned. "I'm just saying, I know how to say ball in Korean."
Mario adjusted his glasses. "You don't."
Renz smirked. "Bollu."
Mario sighed. "That's bowl."
A group of girls walking by laughed softly. Renz didn't mean to be funny—he never did.
He just was.
They found the cafeteria eventually. The tables were packed with strangers who looked like they belonged here.
Bornok pointed at the food trays. "They serve vegetables on purpose?"
Mario: "You can't live on rice and fishball forever."
Bornok: "Watch me."
Renz sat down with his plate, staring at the steam like it was fog on the court.
He was quiet for a while.
Then, half to himself, half to no one, he murmured, "Feels weird not hearing waves."
Mario glanced up. "You miss home?"
Renz shrugged. "Home's fine. Just... quieter."
That night, Thea sent a group text.
"Celebration tonight. KTV. 8PM. Don't bail."
The Flowstate crew showed up in scattered arrivals.
Riki brought chips, Lars brought his weird imported soda, Teo arrived last, clean-cut as always, still half-shadow in the doorway.
The KTV wasn't their usual one.
This place had carpet that stuck to your shoes and neon lights that flickered like bad memories.
But the mic worked, and the screen glowed, and that was enough.
Bornok tried to sing first. He didn't know the words, but he knew the attitude.
Renz clapped off-beat, Mario pretended to be asleep, and Thea laughed harder than she had in weeks.
Riki filmed it all like a proud parent.
Then the door to the next booth slid open, and a voice broke through the chorus.
Low, clean, familiar.
"Bakit ngayon ka lang..."
Renz froze.
Even through the wall, that tone carried swagger.
Thea looked up. "No way."
Lars squinted. "It can't be—"
Riki smirked. "Oh, it's them."
The door between rooms opened a little wider, and there he was:
Marco "Wave" Herrera, mic in hand, grinning like time hadn't passed.
Behind him—Ethan "Tank" Cruz, Lando Perez, and a few faces Flowstate remembered from the first Governor's Cup.
Iron Tide.
Marco finished the line, bowing like a showman.
"Didn't think I'd be serenading the legends themselves."
Bornok whispered, "Who's this?"
Mario muttered, "Your replacement if you keep missing layups."
Renz didn't say anything.
He just smiled, slow, cautious, the way fighters do when they meet old sparring partners.
Riki stood up. "Look who found rhythm again."
Marco laughed. "You kidding? We never lost it."
The tension was quick but soft—like the start of a good song.
Then Tank clapped once, breaking it.
"Drinks on us," he said. "At least until the rematch."
They all ended up sharing the same room.
Voices overlapping, microphones passing hands, the kind of chaos that made people remember why they played in the first place.
Marco hit every high note like he was still chasing the rim.
Bornok added random ad-libs.
Renz tried harmonizing and missed, but no one cared.
Halfway through the night, Thea leaned against the table, looking at both teams.
"So, what if we made it official? One more run. State U scrimmage. Iron Tide vs Flowstate."
Marco grinned. "A friendly?"
Riki smirked. "Sure. Friendly enough."
Tank raised his glass. "Then it's a date."
Outside, the night air was thick with exhaust and leftover laughter.
They said their goodbyes at the street corner, Iron Tide heading one way, Flowstate the other.
Bornok stretched. "That was weirdly nice."
Mario: "You're only saying that because you didn't pay the bill."
Renz stayed behind a moment, eyes on the city lights.
Thea called out, "You coming?"
He nodded, started walking, slow.
They passed by the State U gym on the way home.
The court lights were off, but through the glass doors, the faint outline of the rim glimmered under a single emergency bulb.
Renz stopped, hand in his pocket, watching it flicker.
He didn't know why his chest felt tight.
Maybe it was nerves. Maybe memory. Maybe both.
Mario looked back. "Bro?"
Renz smiled. "Just listening."
"Listening to what?"
He tapped his chest once. "The thing that doesn't stop, even when it's quiet."
They walked on, their shadows stretching across the campus road.
A new poster flapped against the gym wall in the wind.
STATE U SCRIMMAGE — FLOWSTATE vs IRON TIDE — FRIDAY NIGHT.
The lights inside the gym blinked once, like they'd heard it too.
End of Chapter 1 — "The First Day"