Quoted By:
As Petra carries Reimu into the Tower, as the Magical Girls of the West grow tired of pounding wood, Erika’s mind radar finally gives her something. The school council president cleanly snatches a crawling Cricket from the ground, analyzes it with Omniscience, and brutally plucks away the parts it uses to fly and whimper, reducing it to little more than a cellphone. But she doesn’t talk into it yet.
Closing her eyes, Erika uses the SETR (Search for ExtraTerrestrial Rats) method, now renamed to SGSI (Soul Gem Signal Interceptation), and finds herself perceiving the signals coming in and out of the Soul Gems again, in a world of her own. Erika clears her throat.
■-■ <span class="mu-s">Erika</span>: <span class="mu-i">Hello.</span>
Just like with the Soul Gems, Erika is now aware of the link between the Cricket she’s holding and its receiving end as the signal travels, calculating its destination by drawing knowledge from the dark depths of her brain.
And what do you know? What an interesting location.
■-■ <span class="mu-s">Erika</span>: <span class="mu-i">Hello. Hello. Hello.</span>
Erika suddenly becomes keenly aware that she’s nervous. She places the ‘cellphone’ over her ear.
■-■ <span class="mu-s">Erika</span>: <span class="mu-i">Hello. Hello. Hello?</span>
…
<span class="mu-s">???</span>: <span class="mu-i">Hello. Who is this?</span>
And then she feels her stomach churning… but it’s too late to back down. It’s time to be firm, although the nameless voice is soft and tender like that of a scared child's.
■-■ <span class="mu-s">Erika</span>: <span class="mu-i">Greetings, your location has just been discovered, it is on Av. C--------- 1---, the attack constructs you are using have been disabled for now, we have a teleporter on standby and the West faction ready to be deployed with the other factions acting as reserves so do not end the call.</span>
…
The line goes quiet. Too quiet. Erika checks the Cricket, but static is still coming out from it.
<span class="mu-s">???</span>: <span class="mu-i">Please hang on.</span>
And it goes quiet once more. Erika finds her feet bouncing frantically, and that standing still is getting harder by the second.
<span class="mu-s">???</span>: <span class="mu-i">Ugi’s, what can we help you with? Will it be a large or medium-sized pizza?</span>
