"Wow, I guess I can see why you need your weapons no matter which country you're in, what about Hong Kong?"
"The same goes for them because while Takato isn't quite as active in Hong Kong as he is here there's some sort of criminal group that is and yet that group also likes to work in Japan"
"Might be the group that originally abducted me, or a subsection that doesn't hurt officers through abduction but other means"
"We'll figure it out once they're arrested"
"Agreed, now then in the meantime you need your badge and weapons if you're going to be a police officer helping us"
"That will take a few days to mail, fortunately I already have my passport since you guys brought that with me"
"We couldn't bring your weapon for reasons you know full well Li"
"I know"
"Give it about two days and you should have your weapon"
"More like an hour and a half"
"Wait what?"
"Yeah, there's someone who's been in Japan for the past week but they're about an hour and a half out right now"
"Then we'll wait for them before doing anything else"
An hour and a half later and the Hong Kong officer was one Li had known well at the time of his abduction and to see her as a detective was a nice surprise for him since at the time she had never expressed interest in being more than an officer on the street
"I'm surprised you became a detective"
"Yeah well...an incident helped me get things into perspective regarding my reasons for staying on the street, and no detective Li it wasn't your abduction, though I'll admit that came pretty close to being my reason but my superiors talked me down before I made any rash decisions"
"How long ago was this incident?"
This time it was Kindaichi who answered it since he had been there for said incident
"About two and a half years ago Li, I was there for that incident and...it doesn't surprise me that this time her superiors didn't talk her out of becoming a detective"
Hearing that made the detective from Hong Kong snort
"You were fully involved detective Kindaichi, don't sell yourself short on your how much was your part in this"
"Kindaichi?"
Kindaichi sighs at that
"She has a point actually Li, she found me half unconscious and was the main arrestor of the group, and the funny thing is I wasn't actually supposed to be involved originally"
"Wait you weren't?"
"Nope, pure coincidence in that regards"
"But in either case I decided to become a detective because of that case and was granted permission that time and have been a detective since"
"I see"
"In any case, it's good to know that you're not only alive but able to be back on the force detective Li, even if there are restrictions put in place on occasion"
"Yes, and that will have to be discussed in Hong Kong, by the way how are you fluent in Japanese?"
Kenmochi is the one who speaks this time
"After she saved Kindaichi and became a detective she herself requested to be one of the main liaisons between Hong Kong and us and so through sheer persistence she's learned Japanese, as for me and English Akechi and Kindaichi have been trying to teach me but I just don't learn for some reason"
"He's not kidding, every time we think we've made progress we find out that we haven't, Kenmochi has gotten frustrated to the point that we've all agreed that he shouldn't try to learn English and just make do with translators"
"I'm amazed that I've been able to remember what Chinese you taught us Li to be honest"
"Might be due to writing system similarities"
"Could be, could be"
"In any case there's still much to be done regarding your original abductors"
"Yes, there indeed is, but at least...at least those in America are safe, at least from the group that had me in any case"
"Indeed, still seeing as how long it's been since that day how are we to find any new clues?"
"Hopefully we'll be quick but then again..."
"It could take a very long time, in any case I think it might be safer for me to start doing police work here in Japan where I'm amongst friends in case anything happens regarding my leg"
"Yeah...that's actually a good idea, even if you've been separated for a long time you're more comfortable around then and let's face it they'll stick close to you more than anyone in Hong Kong at the moment since the officers in Hong Kong will expect you to simply go right back into things like before even though they know you have permanent damage and scarring"
"She has a point Li, I've seen it with another officer of Hong Kong"
"Akechi?"
"It was about a year before your first sighting, at least in regards to knowing that you were alive and potentially still in the US, an officer got shot in both the shoulder and the leg, the leg injury healed up completely with no lingering affects, the shoulder wound though...he has mobility issues and is weaker in that arm, while I was there his life was in danger at least twice because the other officers with him simply treated him as they would have without his injury. We're not saying never go back to Hong Kong, but at least let us be with you while you get back into the swing of things regarding police work, we'll be by your side and yet let you grow on your own while making sure that you're safe and fully understand your limitations"
"Thank you, let's do that then"
"In that case, here you four here's an easy, or well hopefully easy case for detective Li to start getting back into the swing of things"
"Let me guess, with all four of us involved you're doubting the easiness of this case"
"Exactly, Takato likes to play mind games with Kindaichi and you and Kenmochi get involved nine times out of ten Akechi and I know for a fact that Li's been
involved a time or two as well"
The case ultimately was straightforward though it still took a week to solve since one of the suspects that they had to interrogate and clear in the end had been in England on business for a couple of days but finally the easy murder case was solved with an arrest and confession
"So...easy as I hoped?"
"Yes, it's allowed Li to start getting back into the swing of things, getting back into form regarding report writing and interrogating suspects"
"We'll start gradually making them harder but for now if I recall correctly you four have a place you need to be"
"Good point, we'll explain when we get there Li"
"Oh...you haven't told him yet have you?"
"Nope, but it's okay, he'll understand when we arrive, I'm sure of it"
And so the group head to Osaka where he was initially confused but once the parade started he realized what was going on because this was a special parade, one that had started a year after his disappearance in memory of all officers lost in the line of duty, Akechi, Kindaichi and Kenmochi were part of the parade every year partly because they were the ones who started it all and partly because of the fact that even without Li being missing and presumed dead they all remembered other officers lost in the line of duty
"Li...would you like to represent Hong Kong and China this year?"
"Represent...in a parade?"
"Yes, this is a memorial parade, for those lost in the line of duty, we have a representative of each country and since we're the ones who started it we're the hosts and the participants and thus the representatives for Japan"
"Is there...is there another officer? I can surely represent Hong Kong but to represent China..."
"Yes there is an officer on standby for China as a precaution"
"Then I will walk by their side for this"
And so that's exactly what he does, Li represents Hong Kong while walking beside the officer chosen to represent China as a whole and eventually the parade ended with the Chinese officer deciding to pull Li aside
"Listen Li, there's something you need to know"
"What is it?"
"You weren't the only one who went missing that year, but the other officer was found dead about six months later, all of China now knows about your survival and want's your help in figuring out what's going on but at the same time..."
"You're all worried about my mental and physical health"
"Mental yes, physical not for most"
"Memories are still sometimes shoddy regarding the initial abduction period, plus there's a reason I'm in Japan working in their police force right now"
"Your leg injury"
"Yep, they're going to help me regain everything I lost but for now it's too dangerous for me to return home"
"Because everyone will treat you like before, unlike them for some reason"
"Exactly"
"Why do they treat you normally?"
"You'll have to ask them through translators I'm afraid since even I don't know the full story"
"In any case there's generally a meal after the parade and everyone breaks off into different groups based on language similarities or sometimes friends because you know full well that happens, as it happened to you detective Li in regards to Japan"
"Indeed, now then I'll find my friends, thank them for this and then...then discuss the future of this parade because I get the feeling that this started because of me"
And so during the meal Li did indeed discuss the future of the parade and found out that Akechi, Kenmochi and Kindaichi had agreed and decided long ago that even if Li was found the parade would continue for as long as funding and support for the parade was available because it wasn't just about Li but all officers lost in the line of duty
"I see, I guess that's good to hear, but I don't understand the meal part"
"That?...oh that part is not just for socialization and making sure that people are fed after a long day, that is information gathering and everyone here knows it too, we pass on intelligence regarding cases that might be pertinent in other countries, making agreements regarding training with another country, techniques for better police work in a specific situation and much more"
"But wait...why didn't you or America..."
"We couldn't Li, we couldn't give hope to China and Hong Kong, or even Taiwan, not when we knew that there was a possibility that you would be killed at a later date, even when you were in critical condition the only reason us three from Japan knew was because of specific instructions, if not for that even we wouldn't have known about your rescue because you were in critical condition for a while, you almost died during surgery Li. America would have done anything to spare us what we had to see if they could have but they couldn't, at least only the three of us would have suffered the knowledge of your brief survival if you had died in the hospital due to your injuries, the rest of the world would have simply been told you had been discovered after that many years and then died after rescue and medical care that simply too little, too late due to what you had suffered"
"They would have been informed of my rescue and that my injuries were simply too severe for the American's to do much about"
"Exactly, but the world would have still known that America had tried to save your life but that they just...couldn't"
"So...shall we then?"
"Yes, but stay close to Kenmochi in case of English speakers Li, the two of us who can speak English need to talk to some people about something kind of important and unfortunately Embassies aren't going to entirely work on this problem"
While Li never found out what Akechi and Kindaichi needed to discuss to people about he did find out leads regarding his original abductors. Those leads would eventually lead to their arrest and sentencing and once that was done Li was finally free. Granted that took another two and a half years and during that time Li was able to return to Hong Kong as a police officer and remain as an officer until his retirement twenty years after his return. As for his three Japanese friends Kenmochi would retire first while Akechi and Kindaichi retired at later dates, though before their retirement both Akechi and Kindaichi would be declared missing and presumed dead a couple of times, once they were both assumed dead for three years because of an explosion which caused them to have amnesia, combine that with the fact that the explosion happened in one of India's remoter towns that they were helping due to flooding and being in the water meant they washed up in an area that didn't know who they were but helped them recover and stay all the same. When the two did find out who they were they had already been recovering their memories for the past month and finally discovered their identities by pure accident, an Indian police officer from the capital had come to the small town along with the army to help with a landslide and exclaimed his shock at seeing Akechi and Kindaichi alive after three years of being presumed dead, when the officer discovered their amnesia he used a military computer to give them basic information on themselves and simply did what he could to reconnect them with people that would be better in hopefully recovering their memories which actually worked. As for the other times that they were presumed dead it was by their own choices for the assignments they had, most of which involved Takato Yoichi and his vendetta which was potentially deadly since shortly after Kindaichi became a police officer