Neighboring World

Neighboring World (隣りん界かい, Rinkai^?) is an alternate dimension where Spirits exist before arriving at the real world. This location serves as the main setting of Date A Bullet.

History

The Neighboring World was first created when Isaac Westcott, Elliot Woodman, and Ellen Mathers used the Spirit Formula to create the First Spirit. The space created by the Spirit being born was great enough to cover the entire world, which resulted in another world being also formed adjacent to the real world. According to Westcott, the formulation of the Neighboring World led to the discovery of the Territory, a universal space existing only in humanity’s imagination before being brought into reality. The end goal of the Neighboring World was for it to eventually overwrite the real world, thereby allowing Westcott to create his ideal world for only mages.

In time, the Spirits created by the Spirit of Origin, Mio Takamiya, would take refuge in the Neighboring World to the point where people began to consider the Neighboring World to be the world where Spirits naturally lived in before manifesting in the real world through a Spacequake. When they return to the Neighboring World, they are considered Lost (消失ロスト, Rosuto^?. lit. "Disappearance"). According to Tohka, the instant she shifts to the Neighboring World, she automatically enters a sleep-like state, and the only thing she remembers is feeling like she's drifting alone in a dark space. By the present day, all of the Spirits have already left the Neighboring World and departed for the real world. In their stead, girls known as Quasi-Spirits have taken up residence in the Neighboring World.

Due to Mio's birth being instrumental to the creation of the Neighboring World, the world itself is connected to Mio's life. Symbolically, the world has been described as a dream dreamt by a single girl, with the end of the world represented by that girl waking up. As such, after Mio's double suicide with Westcott, the Neighboring World was assumed to have subsequently collapsed. This statement is later proven to be false, as the Neighboring World continues to thrive after Mio’s death due to Hibiki’s actions as the Dominion of Keter to sever the link between the two worlds. Consequently, the Neighboring World can no longer be observed from the perspective of the real world.

Regions

Kareha's Map of the Neighboring World

Regions (領域, Ryōiki^?) are the components of the Neighboring world. There are ten different regions, all named after the Sephirot of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah. Each region is connected to one of the ten Spirits, which is determined by their Spirit number. Gossip between Quasi-Spirits has spread rumors that the First Region Keter is the closest to the real world.

The ten regions are connected by a pathway called Shamayim Kaveesh (天へ至る路シャマイム・クヴィシュ, Shamaimu Kuvishu^?. lit. "Road to Heaven"), which is usually sealed through a large obsidian gate. Crossing through the gate requires the permission of the Dominion of the region. However, this varies depending on region to region. The security of the Tenth Region Malkuth is very lax while travel between other regions has become locked, such as Binah, which is completely sealed off from other regions. According to Cistus, the First Region Keter is the only region completely detached from the Shamayim Kaveesh, being so isolated that even the other nine Dominions remark that there is no method of contacting there.

In actuality, there is another connection between the regions. Reiryoku pipelines hide beneath each region. These pipelines act as channels to distribute Reiryoku. The pipelines are essential for order in the Neighbouring World as without them, Reiryoku in the regions would become unstable, turning them into wastelands. Quasi-Spirits would become Empty far more quickly and regions would try to steal energy from one another, bringing an era of chaos. The gate to Keter is hidden inside the underground pipeline of Chokmah.

Some regions have been closed off from others, either by sealing the gates or by destroying the Shamayim Kaveesh, as Chokmah and Tiphereth did.

Hibiki describes each region as a conical shape in Volume 2. The edges around the regions are less detailed the further out you go.

• First Region Keter (ケテル)

• Second Region Chokmah (コクマー)

• Third Region Binah (ビナー)

• Fourth Region Chesed (ケセド)

• Fifth Region Gevurah (ゲブラー)

• Sixth Region Tiphereth (テイファレト)

• Seventh Region Netzach (ネツアク)

• Eighth Region Hod (ホド)

• Ninth Region Yesod (イエソド)

• Tenth Region Malkuth (マルクト)

Compile

Compile (隣界編成コンパイル, Konpairu^?. lit. "Neighboring World Compilation") is a phenomenon that causes great destruction and otherworldly effects on the regions it occurs in. There is a common theory in the Neighboring World that they are caused when the corresponding Spirit to the region experiences emotional trauma or deep emotional moments, though this isn’t confirmed. Each region suffers differently, and there are often differences between each Compile even in the same region, no two instances are totally the same. The scale of these events also varies drastically. It was vaguely mentioned that the more severe and dangerous the event, such as the creation of black spines, the more likely it was caused by a negative mood change. Compiles permanently alter the geography of the regions they affect. However, the black pillars directly caused by the Compile vanish in Malkuth's case. The thorns within the Compiles are said to be the heart of the Spirit herself, and can greatly damage anyone who falls into them.

Many Quasi-Spirits are swallowed by Compiles and never return, regardless of whether or not the Compile was caused by a negative or positive emotion.

Compiles also result in whoever touches them being witness to a first-person view of the Spirit in question’s memories. They can be memories of anything from traumatic events to pleasant experiences and everything in between. This often leads to Quasi-Spirits falling in love with the man from the other world as they witness and feel the Spirit in question’s feelings as though they were their own. According to Ariadne, this happens particularly often in Chesed.

After the Neighboring World's connection to the real world is severed, Maya notes that no further Compiles have been detected since then.

Trivia

• Each region in the Neighboring World is linked to one of the ten main Spirits in Date A Live.
• Shamayim Kaveesh is derived from the Hebrew term "Shamayim K'veesh" (שמים כביש), which roughly translates to "Sky Highway".