Wave: Patid Sa Balud (Vol. 1)

#1: Ang Timaan sa Kangitngit

1
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I could never place a promise.

And if I must, it will not be...

...as easy as it seems.

My reign has been delayed long enough.

But now...

It's time.

---

Rallies are rare in the city.

As far as Pearl knows from the three years she has lived here, and the occasional vacations to visit her grandfather when she was young, the city never really had a rally quite this big. Let alone in the streets of downtown.

It was confusing to see how many people showed up to share their detestment to superheroes. She does not think the whole consensus would be this large.

With the way Niño is humming, standing beside her with the same confused look on his face. He seemed inclined to agree as well.

"Do you think they invited other people from the provinces?" Niño grasped her wrist as they prepare to pass the street. Pearl shrugged, making sure Niño is in her line of sight.

"With the way the street is packed, that's very likely." Pearl grimaced. Niño tugged her forward with his tight grip, she had nothing else to do but hold on as they squeezed quite literally through the moving crowd.

The density was more than packed sardines.

"Do you know where we're going?"

"Lucky for you, I'm taller than their placards– Sorry, te, mu agi ra mi." Niño apologizes when one shouts profanity at them for bumping into them. Geez, people have no chill these days.

"Agi agi mo diri gadala rag kagubot!" One shouted. Pearl can't help but feel irritated.

"Excuse me, pero between the two of us, kinsay apil og rally, nya ga abong sa dalan?" Pearl snapped at them, but before the man could respond – Niño pulled them quickly away from the rude protesters to an opening with more crowd-squeezing and apologizing. The apologizing was more in Niño's part. Pearl's sour mood reared its ugly head, added with the tension and the stress of being late to work.

It took them nearly three minutes to finally eject out of the screaming crowd. It had Pearl panting with her legs and the soles of her feet on fire. It's 8AM in the morning, late for work with Niño, and they're both already sweaty and out of breath.

Great.

She would have preferred to be out of breath taking orders from customers than this tight-squeezing rally.

The workplace was a few blocks from the sidewalk, which meant it took less than two minutes to walk. Pearl had no choice but to run and keep up with Niño's ridiculously long legs as they reached the glass door entrance.

"Save your breath, Dong. Good Morning." The security guard, Kaloy, addressed Niño with a small smile – swinging the door open wide enough for them to enter. "He just arrived as well."