Oh?

"Honey, who's Layla talking to?" I ask, poking my husband in the side gently.

Marco leans his head to the door.

After a few seconds, he takes a step back.

"M-Marco?" I begin, but he says, "She's with one of them. The FM-ians I was telling you about."

"What…what's it called?" I ask.

Marco presses his head to the door again and says, "Omega-Xis, I think. Layla just mentioned its name, so…but…for some reason, they keep mentioning FM-ians I've heard of, at least the only one…Cygnus."

I press my ear to the door.

"So wait," Layla's voice says, "Crown's after us now, then it might be Ophiuca?"

To my surprise, I hear a second voice, a gruff male voice that says, "Yeah. I don't think Gemini or Cygnus have humans, as Cygnus would be after me again and Gemini hasn't shown at all."

"And once we defeat Ophiuca," Layla's voice says, "then we'll see Cancer about the other Battle Cards."

I suppress a gasp.

B-battle Cards? They're illegal, aren't they? With the new virus-enslaving system…

"Then MegaGirl will be unstoppable, as well as…well, whatever Lyra's new form is named," the other voice says.

MegaGirl? The one who stopped the Petra when the cow-thing took her over?

"Michelle," Marco whispers, "are you okay?"

I nod and continue listening.

"I…I'm going to have to explain it to my parents sooner or later, Omega-Xis," Layla's voice says, "from the beginning."

"Save it for when we aren't worrying about Crown or Ophiuca," Omega-Xis' voice says.

"But then we might be arrested for having Battle Cards by then!" Layla's voice says.

"So?" Omega-Xis' voice says, "At least they won't be dying, like Taurus Inferno threatened."

"I guess…" Layla's voice says, "But still, promise me that when we get the rest of the Battle Card data, I can tell my parents…and you'll be there."

A pause before Omega-Xis' voice says, "All right. We needed Geo's mom to know about our partnership before we went to the shuttle where the FM king was. More than likely, we'll need your parents to know before we fight Aquarius."

I stop listening and murmur to Marco, "Should we tell her?"

Marco shakes his head and says, "She probably knows, either from us returning without a child, or else that 'Omega-Xis' told her."

"What do we do about this, though?" I ask.

"If she's MegaGirl," Marco says, "then she'll need to know about my latest project: the revival of the Brotherband."