Note: After a long hiatus, I have decided to continue on this project again.

1. In a nutshell, the TWEWY cast is inserted in the DS2 scenario. On the other hand, the plot will be quite a bit more convoluted than just the Neon Genesis Evangelion copycat in DS2. Be warned that the plot will get much darker than both TWEWY (which is itself a very hopeful story) and DS2 (which I consider to be a horribly nerfed version of EVA). To elaborate, the characters will undergo major sanity slippage midway through the story. I can't guarantee whether this counts as out of character or not, but the fact is that the characters from both media are not explored fully. (Where's the sequel for TWEWY? I need the background stories for Neku and Joshua, or else I'll create their own ones from the SMT continuity and conceive my own EVA-esque dysfunction junction!) Also, its ending, while possibly happy, will be quite esoteric.

(A personal thought regarding anime DS2: If you are trying to make a whole plot reference to EVA, then why can't you learn more from it and make the plot seem at least less Deus Ex Machina-ish and Narm-ish?!)

(I am probably being both a Tsundere and a hypocrite here)

2. This story will be allusive to quite a bit of media, but most notably to Puella Magi Madoka Magica – not that I think it's better than Eva (I don't really have a conclusive opinion on which of them is the more superior one), but simply because I can find better counterparts between PMMM and the story and between Eva and the story. Most importantly, I haven't watched EVA yet due to a lack of time regrettably.

(Note that they will only be apparent in the more recently written chapters, since the allusion is a relatively new idea)

3. There will be minor shipping between NekuXJoshua, AlcorXYamato, HibikiXDaichi and JungoXFumi (?!). Note, however, that the shipping will be downplayed to subtext level like in PMMM (who said that PMMM is not about yuri anyway?) and Eva (if KaworuXShinji isn't meant to be one of the OTPs in the official EOE 3.0). At its uppermost limit, it will be at a level similar to EOE 3.0 KaworuXShinji and Rebellion HomuraXMadoka.

4. You may notice that my writing style has changed considerably between different chapters, especially between anything before Wednesday and after Wednesday. I am already trying to rewrite some of the earlier chapters to make it more consistent with my new style and the recently conceived plot development.

5. All of the above words may be trash simply due to my amateurish writing skills. Allow me to state the truth that I am a prospective physics undergraduate with English as my second language and not a humanities English native. I have been writing this only for fun and for improving my writing ability English. I would be very grateful if you could pinpoint any spots for improvements here.

(That is, I am somewhat seriously considering taking either English or Japanese as a minor subject besides the standard Math/CS: English because this might help writing to the general audience, and Japanese because – notwithstanding the fact that I am writing a crossover fanfiction between two Japanese artistic works - Japan is the best country in Asia in terms of physics research.)

6. The fiction will be updated very slowly. My last few months in my senior year already crammed with activities and classes, and I don't realistically expect my undergraduate life to be idle. Expect an update frequency of at most one chapter per month if I am not overwhelmed with all sorts of activities.

7. I recommend the following music as background musics for the following chapter. Some of them are allusive, and others merely because it sounds good. It's inconvenient for me to update the already published chapters one by one (not to mention the fact that has already deleted most of the earlier chapters), so I will just list them there until I (possibly) rewrite them:

WARNING: While the songs are not necessarily spoilers themselves, they may more or less hint at the direction of plot movement. Proceed with caution if you don't want to know that something whammy happen in a particular chapter.

Prologue: Connect (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

watch?v=P8MRW2tRpjk

Sunday's Melancholy I: The Future Starts With You (Portal 2)

watch?v=XJIgHWnkcnA

Sunday's Melancholy II: Kings (Project K)

watch?v=lvKfihW7vxY

Sunday's Melancholy III: The Reluctant Heroes (Attack of Titan)

watch?v=HwW2_hkTQLs

Sunday's Melancholy IV: Tsumetai Heya Hitori (Project K)

watch?v=4Yafd1ufd_k

Monday's Calamity I: Smooth Jazz (Portal 2)

watch?v=MPxVMpeVRGI

Monday's Calamity II: Anima Mala (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

watch?v=p4xSbSpR9j4

Monday's Calamity III: Puella in Somnio (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

watch?v=cFQLWVl6-ws

Monday's Calamity IV: Sis puella magica! (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

watch?v=btmSuNcxiIU

Tuesday's Degeneracy I: Krone (Guilty Crown)

watch?v=d10_sLHZNhA

Tuesday's Degeneracy II: Basileus (Guilty Crown)

watch?v=3RlTC1LfARU

Tuesday's Degeneracy III: Conturbatio (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

watch?v=VSv72WXL4k8

Tuesday's Degeneracy IV: Hill Of Sorrow (Guilty Crown)

watch?v=28EHxPeNDag

Wednesday's Necrosis I: Gate of Steiner (Steins;Gate)

watch?v=WuvSzfaMXNI

Wednesday's Necrosis II: Believe Me (Steins;Gate)

watch?v=5rYI2eG3DuQ

Wednesday's Necrosis III: Unravel (Tokyo Ghoul)

watch?v=cAYxe6e9zrI

Wednesday's Necrosis IV: Glassy Sky (Tokyo Ghoul √A)

watch?v=1wx2nszS8LU

Thursday's Metastatis I: Morphogenetic Sorrow (9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors)

watch?v=EjQfY47pFNs

I tried to upload the link to the official version of the music videos that won't be deleted by the Youtube Police. However, some of them simply don't have one. I apologize if the link is somehow mulfunctional.

Prologue (Rewritten)

Recommended background music: Connect (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

watch?v=P8MRW2tRpjk

The promise that was long ago composed

Revitalizes, as my eyelids are closed

Against the darkness clouding my vision here

I shall, once again, be connected to nowhere

Sunday, 10:00 am, 104 building, 0.5

Humans excel at complicating a simple fact by paraphrasing it with a plethora of different words.

There is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. It can be represented by three simple words - entropy never decreases (notwithstanding physicists' tendency to overcomplicate the things with multivariable calculus, information theory and black holes). Essentially, it says that the the universe is a disconscientious brat who can't tidy up itself and instead let itself go amok as time goes by.

Then there is the Anthropic Principle in fiction. No matter how improbable an event is, it must take place in order to set a fiction into action. It sounds innocent at first, but the unspoken fact is that plot-driving devices are most likely unsavory in nature

The most general statement is Murphy's Law, which is often put into this beautiful form: everything that can go wrong will go wrong.

But all of these have the same underlying message: if it sucks now, then it gonna sucks even more later on.

At this moment, Joshua could not discern any differences between the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the Anthropic Principle and Murphy's Law.

"Let me recap whatever you've just said. You're saying that it's the Higher Dimension this time who wants to run the game once again by spamming all the Septentriones on Earth? After they had chastised me all year long for the unauthorized Shibuya's Game? And they're even forcing me to join this game as a human? It's interesting. Really, really interesting."

"That's more or less the message." the man named Alcor said. To say that he was a man was perfaps inappropriate. He was an albino with a particularly soft manner of speaking. His red-black striped cloth looked oddly out of fashion. Above all, he's not a man at all. He's the eighth Septentrione – the seven plus one Ursae Majoris stars that were going to invade the Earth as a series of Eldritch Abominations as if in a clichéd anime.

On the other hand, Alcor looked so awfully similar to him that he thought whether they could be two replicas of the same archetype. He imagined a name suitable for this prototype – Kaworu Nagisa sounded good.

"And you are going out of character by giving all of us the Nicaea app that's going to predict our deaths and summon demons to fight?"

"Yes. I don't think I'm going out of character, though. I just wanted to see what you can go – perhaps your Shining One also. Neku Sakuraba, yet another much valued player."

"Shining One, huh." He had to admit that the imagination residing in the soul of Neku was glaring. While he did not meet Neku after the game – Neku most likely would have burst out if they had met, and coming into contact with people in the RG was forbidden by the Angel's code anyway – he liked watching Neku. No matter what he was doing, be it hanging out with his friends made in the UG, mentally drafting a new artwork (Neku was inspired by CAT to be a great artist in the future long before the game), or simply resting, Joshua could feel the imagination overflowing in the mind of Neku like the rays of the sun. He knew that he was part of the reasons why he began to see gleams of hope in humanity – that was, before the HD decided to extinguish it anyway.

"But is there really no other Reason for this game?"

"I can't say no either… humanity is indeed degenerating at an unprecedented rate. Ever since the Yamanote Lockdown… that's also your Reason for organizing Shibuya's Game, right?"

The Yamanote Lockdown – termed as the Septenary Game by the HD – was the harbinger for the rest of the story (he remembered the Anthropic Principle again). It was an attempt by the HD to mitigate the Second Law of Thermodynamics, but Murphy's Law ensued. He witnessed all of that – he was some sort of player. Often times, when he was sleeping (though it should be emphasized that sleeping to a Composer is like honesty is to a politician - both are useful hobbies), the scenes in those seven days recurred to him as a nightmare.

"One final thought. Is there a name for the game?" Names were serious matters. Not only can they capture the essence of something, but they are also what make the modified object truly existent in our conception. Above all, he might need the name of the game to lodge complaints to the Ministry of Peace in the HD later on (whether they would deal with it seriously was another issue).

"There're no formal names, but let's see…The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Game in Human History is too lengthy, and Polaris' Game is too dull… maybe Septenary Game again for a game that runs for a week? No… it should be Octal Game instead, since the game lasts for a bit more than seven days. Seven is the number of change, and eight is the number of harmony. Even if things are in a chaos, they will eventually reach harmony again."

Things were coming in full circles. The Septenary Game took place seven years ago. He initiated Shibuya's Game when the chaos began to surface in Shibuya a year ago. The Octal Game would unfold mere hours later. And when the next Sunday comes, it would be exactly eight years since the Lockdown.

But it was a game that he nust participate in anyway. He didn't know what his feelings were – to atone, to finish his responsibility, to bring forth benefit to humankind…

He was wasting his vocabularies on identical concepts again.