"Likely a result of this place being so far removed from reality. I was able to call you once you arrived, but I got cut off in the middle of a phone call with Dojima-san on the way to a meeting with Kirijo-san."

The food comes up relatively quick, so Akechi takes it, leading Ren over to one of the tables. "I wonder if, perhaps, the five hours that passed were simply due to the nature of our most recent mission requiring a longer meeting than usual. Sometimes outside phone signals are disabled as an added security measure in HQ, and given that Isshiki-san was where the cognitive anomalies began, it made our most recent victory a highly sensitive one."

But that's just a guess, really. All that matters is that Ren is here now.