Hearing a somewhat familiar voice, Klein pushed open the wooden door and looked inside.
It was still that familiar billiard room, but the person beside the table had changed. Standing there was a rather young boy in an old overcoat and a brown bowler hat, with bright red eyes that brought vampires to mind. He was the youth who had caused the Five Pound Assassin Ambassador incident and drawn Klein into the struggle over the Third Differential Machine Manuscript.
"Is that you, Detective Moriarty?" Before Klein could recall his name, the boy recognized Klein's current identity. Looking at the two fake mustaches he had deliberately pasted on to make himself seem mature, Klein could not help thinking of himself when he had first arrived in Backlund and still did not know how to apply makeup.
He stepped into the billiard room and casually shut the door behind him. In that short time, he finally found the boy's name in his memories and said with a smile:
"Long time no see, Ian."
"Yeah." Ian composed his astonished expression and muttered:
"I went to Pritz and scraped by for two months. Those guys were savage and vicious, with no consideration or care for children at all. In the end, I had no choice but to return to Backlund and go back to what I was good at. Last month, Kaspars ran off, so I used my connections to take over the business here."
At this point, Ian changed the subject and added:
"Detective, I've always remembered the help you gave me. I still owe you two favors."
"..." Klein silently grumbled that Ian's explanation was merely a cover-up. Even if Ian had said nothing, Klein could have guessed that he must have some connection with MI9 now. Perhaps even his becoming a