"So, what's the situation?"

"There's been a murder, but the clues are a bit confusing and the stories..."

"Right, let's get to it then"

Kindaichi starts helping and quickly realizes what was going on

"Okay, the Puppeteer from Hell is involved"

"Who?"

"Takato Yoichi, he's framed me for a crime once and made it difficult for me at other times"

"I see, can you figure out the rest?"

"Yeah I have all the clues"

And so Kindaichi solves the case within three days, and then went straight to Kitami to help Akechi and Kenmochi out with their case

"So, how was your case?"

"Takato Yoichi escaped again"

"I see, he's not involved in our case but..."

"Serial killer is making it hard on you guys"

"Exactly"

"Then maybe I can help solve it"

"Agreed"

And so the three work on the case and eventually solve part of it, they don't catch the serial killer but they do manage to figure out that a copy cat was involved and caught the copy cat

"Well, one out of two isn't bad"

"Especially with the fact that you came straight from dealing with the Puppeteer from Hell"

"No kidding, he's a tricky opponent to deal with"

They hear their flight and head back home. Once home Akechi and Kenmochi learn that the investigation regarding Li was no longer a secret from the higher ups and that if there was a solid lead the three would have the full backing of their superiors to follow it as far as they could. What went unsaid but was definitely understood by the three though was not only verbal support if there were any leads but also the unspoken emotional support that they'd been lacking the entire time they were doing their side investigation because they'd actually had leads the entire time but most of them fell through and it was emotionally draining on them to learn that they had followed a cold trail, it had actually almost forced them to quite a few times they were that emotionally drained, but they also picked themselves back up after a time, but it was getting harder each and every time and their superiors could tell that, it was actually part of why they were deliberately making Kindaichi a detective when they were, not only so that he could be with Akechi and Kenmochi on more cases and thus coordinate their efforts regarding Li's case more smoothly but also to give the group the emotional support they needed by being basically all on the same level even if Akechi was a Superindentant. The emotional support wasn't just the three of them being together in a more official capacity though, it was also them making sure that they were okay and providing a safe place to vent, a neutral person, though they were unaware of that at the moment purely because of the fact the higher ups were simply waiting to inform all three of them of the support that they now had with their superiors

"So...when are we sending Kindaichi away for the test and lying to those two?"

"Two weeks from now sounds about right"

"Okay then"

And so two weeks later Kindaichi is told that he was to go to a location for detective training with a visiting detective and since that was done occasionally no one thought it strange, but once Kindaichi arrived at the location he realized that he was taking his detective test. Three hours later and he was back at the station and not saying much except that it was interesting working with a detective that knew he wasn't going to be around for very long

"I'll bet, now then you have a patrol to do I'm afraid"

"Understood"

And so Kindaichi goes on patrol and nothing really happens. Two weeks later he, Akechi and Kenmochi were all called into the office of their superior

"First off let me start off by saying we lied to you Akechi and Kenmochi, Kindaichi wasn't helping a visiting detective two weeks ago, he was instead taking his detectives test, Kindaichi the results are in, and effective immediately you are hereby promoted to detective and will work most if not all of your cases alongside Akechi and Kenmochi"

"Thank you"

"By the way, how's your side case going?"

"Not good we...we haven't had a solid lead in three weeks I...I don't know if..."

"Kindaichi, you, Akechi and Kenmochi are going to be seeing someone soon about the side case but I think you three need to vent right now about it, when we said you had our backing we also mentioned in regards to making sure you three had emotional support. I'm sure the three of you solving cases together will help with that but it's been two years since you joined Kindaichi, and four years since Li disappeared, you three are emotionally drained by that I'm sure"

"I guess you're right"

"By the way Kindaichi, we're sending you to America next month"

"What for?"

"Primarily as practice for your English, however at the same time they asked for an exchange program to possibly be started and we've decided that you'll be the first test officer for the program"

"I see, how long do I have to prepare for the trip?"

"Three weeks"

"Understood"

And so three weeks later Kindaichi goes over to the US and does training with them and learns things that were still being perfected in the country thus why it hadn't yet spread out to other countries

"Now then, your initial training is just going to be for a month, however that might be extended if we feel it is needed for any reason"

"I understand"

And so things are initially calm but then a raid on a building was done and Kindaichi was called in and while he seemed disinterested in most of the information while looking at the scene he suddenly whipped around at hearing something unexpected

"...Fingerprints are to be analyzed at the lab but the blood work testing that we were able to do on site gave us three different blood types, O-positive, A-negative and B-negative, while that doesn't give us much it does mean that..."

"Wait...say that last blood type again"

"Sir?"

"Do it"

"The last blood type we got was B-negative"

"When...when will we have the results of the fingerprints?"

"Not until tomorrow at the earliest, primarily because we couldn't get decent fingerprints off of the surfaces, some of them were smudged while others were hard to see in the first place for whatever reason"

"I see...I see, I guess I'll have to wait for the fingerprint analysis"

"Detective Kindaichi?, is there something important about the blood work?"

"Possibly, but the fingerprint analysis will be confirmation of...of something important to me"

"Understood"

The next day the results were in and the police chief led the debriefing about said results

"Okay people, all but one of the fingerprints came back to known criminals in the area, but one of the prints had to be run through Interpol to even get a match, and that match is both confusing and not good news, not good news at all"

One of the officers raises their hand and once acknowledged speaks up

"What's so worrying about the Interpol match sir?"

"This"

As soon as the picture is brought up Kindaichi stands up so fast that his chair falls over and while the chief would have reprimanded Kindaichi normally the obvious shock in his eyes prevents that, that and the fact that Kindaichi slipped and broke the rule about not speaking Japanese in the debriefing room unless talking to his Japanese superiors over the phone

"It can't be...after all this time it couldn't possibly be that easy...I couldn't possibly have missed by this much...plus..."

"Kindaichi...Kindaichi I don't know all of what you said but it's true, it really is him, Interpol ran those results themselves twice when the fingerprints came up. Detective Li of Hong Kong, or Taiwan whichever you prefer is alive, and from the amount of blood we saw most likely an unwilling prisoner, it also makes sense with where the fingerprints were discovered. He's not to be declared a criminal until he takes action against us and even then we won't press charges immediately due to obvious mitigating circumstances since he might be fighting us by force"

Everyone had sucked in air at hearing that the person on screen was a police officer, even if they were a foreign police officer the implications were understood and then waited with bated breath to see how Kindaichi would respond

"I...I request permission to call two of my fellow detectives and extend my month long stay"

"Denied, I'm sorry but it's just not doable Kindaichi, these people will have gone underground by now due to yesterday's raid and we have no idea when or where they'll pop back up, I will make sure that you, detective Kenmochi or Superintendent Akechi are notified if we ever find detective Li but I'm afraid that staying when there's no further leads is impossible"

They could tell he wasn't very happy about it, but they also saw when Kindaichi conceded to the chief about the conversation that had just happened and then the chief speaks up again

"Now that everyone knows why it's not a good thing that detective Li's fingerprints are at the crime scene let me explain why it's confusing and why I said that detective Li is alive, Li was declared dead just over three and a half years ago after going missing just over four years ago due to being abducted by a group that doesn't like police officers and generally kills them brutally, sometimes publicly and very quickly, that he's been alive and in the hands of criminals for this long doesn't bode well for us or him mentally, physically and emotionally"

The debriefing continues but everyone could tell that Kindaichi wasn't really following it, as it was the other officers were only just barely able to follow the debrief after the shock they had received regarding the fact that an officer thought dead was actually alive and they had been just hours behind in rescuing him. Once the debriefing is done Kindaichi is called to the chief's office and while no one knew exactly what was discussed everyone could tell that Kindaichi was looking much better and more in control, but when he went to his phone they got very confused because they could have sworn that Kindaichi had been ordered not to call his two fellow officers over to America, they knew the instant he made a connection though since he went straight into Japanese

"Hey Akechi, I know it's late over there but I need to talk to you immediately"

"Why call me and not Miyuki?"

"It's police related"

"Kenmochi isn't here Kindaichi"

"I know, he told me yesterday about the case he's working on, unfortunately I need to pass on word to you and you'll have to pass it on to ossan"

"What is it?"

"Li's alive, his blood was found during a raid, as was his fingerprints, Interpol confirmed it was him"

"Do you need me to come over?"

"No, the chief said that the group would have gone underground by now so it's pointless, but still the fact that he's been alive this whole time..."

"I know Kindaichi, I know, hopefully good news will be at the end of this journey, I'll tell our superiors that we have a solid lead in the meantime"

"You mean, they might be able to allow me to stay past the month long training?"

"Possibly, we'll see how that goes once I talk to them in the morning"

"Understood"

"But we'll obey the rule of Kenmochi and I not being allowed to go over there, it does make sense after all, and you'll probably be on a time limit for finding him"

"I know...I think I'm going to need to see the specialist once I get back depending on how the search goes"

"Kenmochi and I will too considering..."

"Yeah"

Ultimately Kindaichi was allowed to stay longer than the month long training, but only by two weeks and he was ordered to talk to the police psychologist during that time to start working on his emotions and everything else associated with the fact that Li was alive and they were the closest that they had been for the past two years, which he did