I'm not afraid of things

I don't believe in anything

Same thing goes every day

The brick of superstitions

And I seem to be so unreal...

Beat pressed his ear to the wall. He couldn't help but tap his foot to the driving beats of the song he was hearing. The skateboarder didn't recognize the song, but he sure as hell liked it. Neku sure knew how to jam. Before he knew it, Beat was lost in the rock, his eyes closed and his head bobbing quickly to the beat.

"Hey Beat, what are you doing?"

"BWAAAHHH! Don't scare me like that, yo!"

Beat nearly fell on his face from pure shock when Shiki snuck up behind him. Her motives were innocent, at least. Shiki smiled apologetically and adjusted her glasses. "I just asked what you were doing, Beat. Sorry."

"You finna give me a heart attack?" Beat snapped. He had to give his heart a few seconds to calm down before he decided to answer Shiki's question. "I'm jus' listenin' to Phones's music, tha's all."

"He's been in there for a long time, hasn't he?" Shiki asked. She sounded concerned for her antisocial friend. It wasn't like him to stay cooped up in his room for so long, especially blasting his tunes loud enough for all to hear rather than through his headphones. Even Shiki could feel the pounding bass through the wall, without having to press her ear to it.

"Yo, if you wanna check on him, jus' do it," Beat said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Shiki sighed to herself. "I don't want to bother him, you know?"

"Man, screw that. If you're so worried, I'll go make sure he's aight, aight?" Beat shot back, starting to sound annoyed. Shiki shrugged, seeing no reason to protest. At least she could stay out of Neku's line of fire if he got mad.

With that, Beat navigated the couches and tables scattered around the Sakurabas' living room and made his way to the hallway that would take him to Neku's bedroom. Shiki, unable to fight back her feelings of worry, followed quietly.

Eventually, they got to the door, the gateway of truth. The music was clearer than ever; if Beat were to open the door, it was very unlikely that Neku would hear him.

It's like a noise on radio

You cannot see

But you can feel it

Slowly, the blond skateboarder turned the brass knob and pushed the door open just enough for him to just barely see what was going on inside.

The first thing he noticed was that the room was dark. The lights were off, except for a dim, rectangular glow that was likely being emitted from some music player or something.

The second thing he noticed was Neku.

Beat immediately slammed the door shut and pressed his back against it, as though stopping its secrets from escaping. He instantly remembered that he was supposed to be stealthy and listened intently for any change inside the room.

All the choice you make

Are the only truth you'll know

Both teens let out a sigh of relief. The music was still playing at full volume.

"What did you see?" Shiki asked, her voice dropped to a whisper despite the fact that Neku would never be able to hear her even if she was shouting. Beat couldn't really hear her either, but it wasn't necessary.

"He's dancin' in there, yo," Beat hissed. Shiki raised an eyebrow and pointed to her ear. Beat rolled his eyes and repeated his remark, this time at a higher volume and with a more fervent tone.

"So what?" Shiki asked with a shrug, now talking normally rather than whispering.

"I mean, like crazy!" Beat shot back. "I didn't know Phones was that good!"

Shiki bit her lower lip and tried to fight back thoughts of Neku breakdancing to rock songs with emo lyrics, but eventually, her curiosity got the better of her. She did her best to worm her way past the hulking blond in front of the door and pushed it back open.

She gasped quietly when she managed to catch a quick glimpse of Neku waving his arms and spinning on his heels. His eyes were closed, and his mouth moved to match the words of the song in silence. Neku was jumping around and shaking his hips like Shiki had never seen, pulling off all kinds of moves she didn't even know existed.

Much like Beat had, she quickly closed the door, only this time, it was just as the song was coming to an end. The slam of wood on wood seemed to echo quite loudly in the resulting silence, and the next song never played.

"Shiki? Is that you?" Neku called out.

Shiki squeaked in fear and fled down the hallway, leaving Beat standing there as Neku's footsteps were rapidly approaching the door. He searched his brain for ideas in vain, right up until the last second, at which point he simply followed Shiki to seek refuge in anonymity.

Neku opened the door, swung his head round, and searched the hallway for any signs of life. Finding none, he shrugged, ducked back inside, closed the door, and locked it this time. With a press of the play button on his speakers, fitted to play songs on his mp3 player, a fresh song started playing, this one actually much slower and calmer than the last. Neku grinned to himself as he got a feel for the beat.

You know our love was meant to be

The kind of love to last forever

And I want you here with me

From tonight until the end of time

Neku would never let anyone hear him listening to slow and sappy love songs like this, especially not Shiki, since the song reminded him of her so much and he would surely blush at the sight of her. That was mostly why he had to check when he heard his door slam, but even if the mousy brunette was there at one point, she had since left, and he was free to dance a slow dance to one of his favorite love songs.

Suddenly, he heard a noise just outside his window, which was covered by purple curtains at the time (matching the decor of much of his other furniture). The noise in question sounded like the rustling of the bushes just outside, only louder and sharper. Someone was spying on him!

Neku reacted instantly and stopped the song. No one could ever see him dancing to that song! Nobody! He then threw the curtains open and searched fervently for whoever had been watching him.

There was no one to be found.

"I told you to be quiet!" Chieftan snapped. His rookie teammate for the mission grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry, man," Spin apologized. "I just wanted a closer look, ya know?"

"Yes, well, you almost jeopardized the entire thing," the older agent retorted.

"But didja see those moves?" Spin asked, quickly getting excited. "That kid's just what we need!"

Chieftain pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Remind me why you dragged me all the way here? We travel enough as it is. Unless one of the agents speaks Japanese, this is going to be a serious thorn in my side from here on out, I can just tell."

Spin rolled his eyes. "Jeez, Chief, relax. We can always get some Ouendan guy to translate for us." He elbowed his superior in the side, causing Chieftain's scowl to deepen even further. "Have fun with it!"

"You know as well as I do that the agency is serious business," Chieftain grumbled. "Expert agents have saved countless-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Spin said, laughing to himself and shaking his head. "I know the spiel. Just chill out and everything'll work out fine, aight?"

The older agent gave another mighty sigh. "Well, what do you suggest we do now?"

I don't own TWEWY or EBA. The songs are Unreal by Black Rose Garden and You're the Inspiration by Chicago. I don't own those either.