Hibiki Higoromo

Spoiler Alert: This article/section contains details about future plot lines described in the light novels, not covered in the anime. Do not proceed unless you want to be spoiled.

Hibiki Higoromo (緋衣ひごろも 響ひびき^?) is a mysterious person who approaches Kurumi in Date A Bullet. She is known as Empty (エンプティ^?) during the majority of the first volume.

Summary

Hibiki Higoromo is a seventh-type Quasi-Spirit who travels alongside Kurumi Tokisaki throughout her adventure in the Neighboring World. Upon achieving her goal of revenge, she pledged her loyalty and services to Kurumi as she became Hibiki’s new goal.

Appearance

Hibiki has pale blue eyes and long, messy white hair that she usually wears down. She notably looks very much like an Empty, so much so that she was able to pass as one of the White Queen’s Pawns when infiltrating her castle, simply by putting on a Pawn’s Astral Dress.^[1] The main distinguishing factor Hibiki has from any other Empty is her eyes, they have life to them and lack the same vacancy characteristic of Empties.^[2] Hibiki wears a short white dress with a detached sleeve. Her entire ensemble is colorless and plain.

When Empty (the appearance of which is reflected when she and Kurumi swapped bodies), her eyes are red and her hair is more groomed.

Personality

Hibiki is a sweet Quasi Spirit with a degree of kindness that can often be mistaken for naivety. Despite her accommodating demeanor and occasional clumsiness, Hibiki is actually rather intelligent. Hibiki, despite her somewhat bland appearance, has led a rich life as a Quasi-Spirit, and experienced tragedy that shaped her greatly as a person, and a host of experiences that helped her grow.

When she was Empty, like every other Empty, Hibiki was a blank slate. She had no individual thoughts, nor tastes, interests or hobbies. This changed upon meeting Yue Hiryu, a Quasi-Spirit with a love for battle and a rather thick-headed, giddy personality. The two eventually became close with each other, living under the same roof and sharing each other’s company. This drew Hibiki from her Empty state, giving her personality and individuality as her goal shaped her very existence. She cared for Yue and Yue cared for her.^[3]

However, upon the discovery that Yue died in Doll Master's Killing Game, Hibiki grew vengeful. She swore to avenge Yue, and sought to do this by killing the Doll Master.^[4] Hibiki’s dogged determination came to fruition in this plan, as she devised a series of methods to gain the upper hand in her goal. From creating an essential large-scale explosive by using Astral Dresses to stealing Kurumi Tokisaki’s body in order to gain a power boost as a Spirit,^[5] Hibiki’s determination and sense of justice shines through. While Hibiki is a pacifist and is repulsed by the idea of killing senselessly, she has the wherewithal to do what it takes to achieve her goal. She makes an effort to acquaint herself with battle and treating her own wounds in order to learn how to fight. She will kill if she has to, but dislikes the act immensely otherwise. This compassion and empathy is demonstrated where she is finally able to kill the Doll Master. She hesitates to pull the trigger, and gives the Doll Master the respect of listening to her final words before finally shooting her, and breaking down shortly after.^[6] Despite her desire for vengeance, when faced with the reality of killing Doll Master, Hibiki justified the act by reasoning that killing Doll Master would also be out of mercy upon seeing her miserable state.^[7]

Throughout the story, Hibiki is shown to be a jack of many trades, her vast life experiences undoubtedly playing a large part in this. She is an an adept actress, and has to be due to the nature of her Unsigned Angel’s power. To effectively imitate an appearance and to imitate somebody, it takes a conscious effort to maintain and act like the person she intends to be, which is both taxing and difficult. While Hibiki can be nervous when disguising herself as somebody, she is able to swallow this down, especially if the situation is high-stakes.^[8] In conjunction with being able to act with incredible realism, Hibiki is also shown to be an exceptional idol trainer. Being able to produce high-ranking idols in Yesod, she was revered for her skills as a manager, demonstrating her keen eye for detail and understanding of others.^[9]

This understanding of others carries through in her ability to calm Kurumi Tokisaki down on numerous occasions. She is able to defuse situations with ease, and while it may cost her a slap on the wrist courtesy of Kurumi, is able to do so without a hitch in most situations.^[10] Hibiki’s intelligence can occasionally be swamped by her ditziness and relative innocence, at times appearing dense or slow. But, Hibiki’s ingenuity and surprising fearlessness prevails despite her shortcomings, often getting herself or Kurumi out of a variety of dangerous situations.

It should also be noted that Hibiki enjoys helping and pleasing others, often doing so out of the kindness of her heart, like when she comforted Rinemu during her depressive episodes,^[11] or when spending time with Kurumi.

History

Background

Hibiki was once in a close relationship with another Quasi-Spirit named Yue Hiryu. Yue was Hibiki's inspiration, encouraging her to move forward even while they were in the Neighboring World. However, one day Yue was killed participating in the killing game established by the Dominion of the Tenth Region, Doll Master. After finding this out, Hibiki swore revenge against Doll Master.

Media

• Light Novel
  • Appearances:
    • Date A Live Fragment: Date A Bullet 1-6

Powers and Abilities

Unsigned Angel: King Killing (王位簒奪キングキリング, Oisandatsu^?. lit. "Throne Usurper")

Weapon: Claws

Astral Dress: Breaching Air (漂白霊装・一三三番ブり一チング・エア, Hyōhaku Reisō Ichi San San Ban^?. lit. "Blanching Spirit Dress, Number 133")

Hibiki typically uses her Unsigned Angel for information gathering by stealing the appearance of other Quasi-Spirits. At its highest usage, it allows Hibiki to switch bodies with a single target. She assumes the target’s identity, taking their body, powers, memories, and even their personality. Meanwhile, the target’s soul is trapped in Hibiki’s own body, with no memories and with Hibiki’s personality imposed over their own. It is described as a reversal of laws that allow even a king to be murdered. However, even when used on Kurumi, Hibiki could only utilize a fraction of Kurumi's true powers. She could only summon the Kurumi's short pistol and use the first two bullets. Additionally, each usage also comes at the risk of the owner losing her own identity and personality in the process. Hibiki mentions that the fact she was able to revert back to herself after plundering Kurumi's identity was a miracle, and likely only succeeded because they had mutual consent and acceptance when reverting back, with Hibiki surrendering Kurumi's identity and Kurumi accepting it back.

Hibiki mentioned that she is able to exchange bodies with someone consistently for half a day, and, but then be unable to copy and use their Unsigned Angel.^[12] The extent to which she is able to hold a form appears to depend on how much Reiryoku she has stored, as she was able to hold Kurumi's form for much longer due to her preparation before the swap.

Hibiki is also able to adopt a target’s appearance with impressive accuracy without using King Killing directly on the person. As demonstrated in Volume 3, Hibiki was able to replicate the White Queen’s appearance by deriving her looks from Cistus’ memories.^[13] However, Hibiki is required to consciously keep up an act when disguising as another person, which puts great stress on Hibiki in high stakes situations, and requires memories of the person she is trying to imitate.

It is also noted that King Killing isn't the best offensive weapon, and while Hibiki can use it to slash at opponents, it doesn't boast much destructive power. It was able to tear through the mass produced Yui Sagakure, however.

• Armament Imitation (武装模倣, Busō Mohō^?): By turning off <King Killing>'s safety features, Hibiki can transform her Unsigned Angel into a copy of the target's weapon. By doing this, Hibiki was able to copy the Tenth Spirit's Demon King and even use the Final Sword <Paverschlev>. However, doing so would have led to her death if Kurumi hadn't rewinded her time with the Fourth Bullet Dalet. And even so, <King Killing> is left permanently in fragments after a single swing, with Hibiki losing the ability to ever use her Unsigned Angel again afterwards.

Quotes

• (To Doll Master "No, I sympathize with you. I feel pity for you from the bottom of my heart. You look sorrowful. But, because of that I have to pull this trigger." ^[14]
• (To Kurumi Tokisaki) “Aah… So cute… so cute… I want to lock you up so I can love you forever…” ^[15]
• (To Kurumi Tokisaki) "Sorry, Kurumi-san. But I am not apologizing for coming here to rescue you." ^[16]
• (To Yui Sagakure) "Impossible, that’s impossible! Don’t look at me like that! I’m just a poor, fragile little girl! Fighting against a Dominion is impossible for me!" ^[17]

References

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