Who wrote it?

Chapter 20: The world-wide web.

It was a dark, empty room. Izuru sat on his hard bed. Footsteps echoed through the halls and when they'd arrived at the door, a flash of light poured into the room. He recognised Chiaki's silhouette in the doorway. ''Hajime,'' she breathed as she walked in, ''Hajime, what did they do to you?!''

''They did what they had to.'' Izuru answered monotonously.

''But this- this isn't you! Look at you!''

''I chose this.''

Chiaki stopped right in front of him. ''When you signed that contract, you had no idea that this would be the end result. We have to get you to turn back.''

''And what if I don't want to? What if I want to stay like this?'' He stared into Chiaki's eyes, until she turned hers away. ''I'm finally worth something. I'm finally like the rest of you. An Ultimate.''

''But... you gave up everything that made you special. You might be an Ultimate, but you're not human anymore. You have to reject him. You have to reject Izuru Kamakura.''

''Never,'' Izuru breathed.

Hajime startled awake and sat there breathing on his bed for a couple of moments. It wasn't real. It was just a dream. He hadn't turned into 'Izuru Kamakura,' whoever that was, and he never would. It was all a dream. He took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down, but something kept nagging at him. The dream... didn't feel like a dream. It felt real. There was no randomness that kept the dreamscape separate from reality and Chiaki... actually looked like Chiaki. Hajime shook his head. Either it was a dream, or it was reality. And it couldn't be reality, because Hajime could never turn into something like Izuru. That would be kinda scary, but it wasn't him. He was Hajime Hinata, he probably had an Ultimate, although Usami had never told him, and he wasn't an emotionless monster like Izuru. There was no way that dream could be real. With hesitant newfound confidence, Hajime climbed out of his bed, dressed himself, and walked out onto the docks of Jabberwock Island. The familiar, salty smell of the ocean and the sounds of his own shoes and those of others' on the wooden panelling made him feel more at peace. It was another wonderful day on Jabberwock Island, and nothing was going to stop him from enjoying it.

Kazuichi ran up to him. ''Hajime! Hajime! I had the strangest nightmare!''

''I bet you're going to tell me all about it.'' Hajime muttered as the two started walking over to hotel Mirai.

''Of course I am. I- I dreamt that I'd mounted machine guns to a car and that I was mass murdering people!''

Hajime stopped walking. ''You what?''

''Yes! Strange, right? The weirdest part is that the dream was super real! Like, it could've been a memory. But I'm sure I'd remember something as horrifying as that.''

''So you have had a realistic nightmare as well, haven't you?'' Gundham's voice rang out. Hajime turned around and found that the breeder was standing right behind him. ''Dark forces are at work here. Even an experienced warlock such as I have been affected by the spell, even though I have a protective charm in my cottage at all times. We are in grave danger.''

When the three of them arrived at the dining hall, everyone was chattering amongst themselves with worried faces. Marihu reported that she'd had a dream where she took photos of dead people. She was still pale and her hands were trembling, so Kazuichi stayed with her to comfort her. Akane was eating more than usual, because she'd dreamt that she was starving herself, and she wanted to make up for all the food she hadn't eaten. Even Hiyoko was worried about the nightmare she'd had. That she'd kidnapped her parents and taken them to someone to experiment on. That she'd found the most horrific ways to kill people with knives and forks and spoons. Sonia wasn't even in the dining hall, so Gundham went over to her cottage to check. Hajime sat down next to Chiaki, who seemed to be doing sort of alright. ''Have you... had a strange nightmare yesterday?''