I tried to make this next chapter more psychologically scary than actually violent. I hope everyone enjoys it. :)

Reviewing makes you 10 percent less likely to be murdered by a ghost girl in the woods at night, lol.

Hayashi led Beat into the studio, shoved him into an old, wooden chair, and retied his hands together against a spindle on the chair's back. Tarou glanced over at the two, displaying another rare smile as he adjusted a few knobs on his expansive swath of turntables.

"Could you at least let me stand up?" Beat asked in a whisper. He couldn't even hear himself over the sound of the static in his ears.

"Sorry, but…I don't trust you enough just yet," Tarou admitted. "Wouldn't want you to try running away again; you'd get yourself killed. That would be quite unfortunate for me. You're proving to be useful, after all."

With care, the assassin unslung his katana blade and reached up to rest it atop a set of speakers, out of easy reach from anyone shorter than him. Fighting away the static that invaded his senses, Beat eyed the deadly weapon, almost smiling at the fact that Tarou was, indeed, slowly letting his guard down, if he deemed it safe enough to lose contact with his constant companion.

"You think I'm getting careless?" Tarou asked suddenly, noticing the GG's stare. "It doesn't matter if I have that katana with me or not. I could wrench the life out of you with my bare hands, if I wanted to." With chilling, breathy softness, he added dreamily, "…Actually, that might be fun."

Beat looked away with a jerk of his head, provoking another fit of cackling from Hayashi.

With deadly swiftness, Tarou closed the distance between himself and his captive, startling Beat out of his wits. The GG flinched and his eyes darted up to find the assassin looming over him; his smile had returned. For a moment, Beat was certain that he would be murdered on the spot, with static crackling in his ears; he would be ripped open and mangled; beheaded and mocked and used against his friends…like Rhyth….

"…Let's get this little broadcast going now, shall we?" Tarou invited. His murderous craving had been barely abated. Seizing Beat's chair, he easily dragged it to the center of the room, where a microphone jutted from the edge of the turntables.

The first thing that microphone registered was a shaky sigh of relief.

"Now remember, Beat," Tarou began, "You tell your friends that I saved you from Hayashi and killed him. Tell them you're going to be just fine. But also mention that you're worried for them and want them to stay safe at the Garage. That was part of our little bargain, right?"

"Yeah," Beat whispered.

"Say no less and no more," the assassin instructed. "And when I do this," he made a cutting motion with his hand, like a conductor, "then you stop talking. Immediately."

Shakily, Beat nodded.

"Of course, if you don't stop, that's where Hayashi comes in." Turning to a grinning Hayashi, Tarou added, "Just drag him out of earshot of the mike and we'll deal with him afterwards, in that case."

The captain nodded, wrapping his hand around the back of the chair to be ready.

"Alright then," Tarou concluded, setting up the turntables and blasting the static from Beat's ears with a burst of music.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000

Corn was the first to notice. That evening, his old radio that he kept by his bed in one of the abandoned apartments suddenly stopped crackling with static and then leapt into life. It blasted out the so-familiar groove of D.J. Professor K's favorite intro music: Victory Beat.

Corn immediately left his apartment, turned on the giant speakers in the center of the Garage, and called out to his friends, some of which had already gone to sleep or were just laying low. Out of the woodwork crept Cube, with Yoyo on her back, then Gum, Clutch, Jazz, Garam and Combo. They assembled before the speakers and stood in awe, as if God itself was speaking through them.

"Greetings, Tokyo!" A cheery, baritone voice called from amidst the blaring music. "This is D.J. Ao-i Tarou, here on behalf of our dear Professor K."

"What the fuck? This isn't Professor K?" Corn didn't care who said it.

"Shut up! We gotta find out what's going on!"

"Unfortunately, as most of you have realized by now, Professor K has gone missing," Tarou continued. "I'm making it my personal duty to find him. To all of you listeners out there, if you have any information regarding our-beloved D.J., I would appreciate it if you contacted me out here in 99th Street. But be warned; these are dangerous times to travel our city's streets, as I'm sure my guest here would agree with. Isn't that right, Beat?"

"Beat!" A chorus of GG voices called.

"Sure is," he replied in a composed but muted voice. "Sorry if any of you guys back at the Garage were getting worried. Old Captain Hayashi had me cornered, but our new D.J. here jumped in at the last minute. …If you think he can rock the turntables, wait till you see him spray some tags-" Beat's voice cut off suddenly and he laughed in a way that sounded like shivering to Corn. "I'll be okay, no need to worry. But you guys, on the other hand, should take care. This is no time to be roaming the streets as we usually do. Listen to your leader and stay at the Garage. Lay low. There's danger." Suddenly, Beat's voice trembled. Almost completely drowned out by music, he added, "…There's a lot of danger, coming your w-"

"Beat's right," Tarou added after a boom from the track drowned out Beat's voice. "To all you GGs, stay together in the Garage. I wouldn't want any more of you to end up missing like Professor K. And now, in his honor, I'd like to play one of his favorite pieces: Koto Stomp!"

Tarou's laughter faded into the dark cool, groove of the techno and then was gone completely.

Like hell I'm staying in the Garage!

Flaming with curiosity, Corn dashed off the central platform and skated off toward Shibuya Terminal.

Of course Corn wouldn't take orders from Beat (that's why Beat gave them) OMFG reverse psychology!

Stay tuned+review!

Next Garage scene will have more of Corn, I pwomise :3