Chapter 2,
Tamao passed the pen and pin to Atom after he had written his name on a scrap of paper and pricked his finger to leave a dot of blood on the scrap as well. Atom wrote his name down quickly, lifting the pin up to his vision. He bit his lip as he pricked his finger, squeezing it so artificial blood welled from the small hole. He dabbed his finger onto the paper scrap and put a band-aid over his finger.
"Wow, you actually did it," Reno joshed, elbowing Atom playfully. He rolled his deep brown eyes in exasperation, now handing the pen and pin to Kenichi. As he was writing his name down, they all heard the front door close, then shut. Atom looked in the direction of the door fearfully. "Is it the Midnight Man..?! But we haven't even started-!"
"Daichi!" Shibugaki called happily when the red-haired robot teen showed up in the doorway. Atom now had a hand over his heart as his legs turned to jello and he fell back into a chair. "Gosh, it's just you," he muttered, sighing shakily. Daichi gave a small smirk. "Hey, I heard from Atom earlier today that you guys were having a sleep over. Seeing as I'm not busy, mind if I join?"
"Sure, so long as you aren't afraid of... The Midnight Man!" Reno cautioned in a humorous fashion. Daichi let out a chuckle. "I've heard of this game. No Midnight Man can scare me," he boasted. Atom looked away when Shib pointed his finger over at him. "Not for the robot! He's scared out of his boots!" "Shut it, Shib!" Atom snapped, his cheeks turning red.
Daichi gave a snortle and went over to Ken. "You have another piece of paper?" Kenichi nodded and handed him a piece, as well as the pen and pin. Daichi did just as the others had, then glanced at the clock. 11:58 PM. "Let's hurry up and get outside to do this! Got an extra candle?" he asked. From the counter, Tamao nodded, grabbing a sixth candle and handing it for Daichi.
Before heading out the door, Atom turned off the last light on (the kitchen light), and closed the door behind him. All six faced the door and lit their candles after set their papers down in front of the door. Using his internal clock, Daichi started to knock on the door, a knock each second.
One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-one, Twenty-two.
On the twenty-second knock, they could hear the grandfather clock inside Kenichi's home strike midnight. Daichi opened the door, blew out his candle, then shut it (remaining on the porch with them). He immediately took out a match and relight his candle.
He looked back at the others, who all looked excited, Atom looking more worried of course. With a grin, Daichi hissed creepily, "Let the fun begin."
