And then everyone troops upstairs, cleans up, and goes to sleep. The pajama situation is 'if you think they're comfy'. Tails are hugged and draped, and there's a few pillows and blankets too.

People leave the cuddlepile and return a couple times overnight, and then everyone seems to wake up all at once at some unseen signal.

Sid is very cozy, and sleeps well. He does not mysteriously awake with everyone else, but may do so soon after if they leave him all alone.

The first order of business for newly awakened Kitsune is Snacks. EVERYONE heads to the first floor and eats something.

Teko is actually working on her tablet in the cuddleroom when he wakes up a bit later.

"...Good waking. We didn't want to wake you in case humans need more sleep than us. I volunteered to watch you since I'm just studying."

Sid, still groggy, is confused by this.

"...Why do I need to be watched while I'm sleeping?"

"...You didn't choose an individual room so we thought you don't want to sleep alone?"

"Oh, that's nice of you."

Sid cuddles Teko until he has finished waking up, then checks his tablet. Does he have any new messages?

From Doctors Without Borders: A health report with a lot of obvious caveats and blank fields. They're cataloging the microbes they've identified from him and how they react to Kitsune cells but medical science is slow. Nothing dangerous identified so far but it's far too soon to be certain on that front.

Also from the specific doctor who visited: He has told some people and they have presumably told other people about him. It's out of his hands now. He's being asked to come back for more checkups, maybe every day, would that be acceptable to Sid?

Also from someone called 'Akane Iho of Iwa', signed with the signature-particle that indicates six tails, no other title or qualifications attached: She would like to schedule a video call to 'establish mutual understanding', at his convenience, please.

Sure, they can do more checkups. Preferably at a regularly scheduled time so he can plan things around them.

He can talk to Akane Iho any time today. This should be interesting. What does the internet say about her?

Akane Iho of Iwa is the head of the military and a career soldier. She served Iwa's national army until it merged with Tsu's as the Joint Sea Patrol Service about 50 years ago, and served in that until the Final Unification about 30 years ago, and served in the United Global Military ever since. She's been its overall leader for the past seven years. She has bounced around the service and has experience in every branch: Army, Air, Sea, and Space. At one point in the JSPS she successfully negotiated with a batch of terrorists who claimed to have chemical weapons and de-escalated the situation; She got a medal for it. Her largest political push has been towards having the army do complicated large scale field exercises in varied terrain on a regular basis instead of only very occasionally, and instead of simply training in and around local bases. She also built a reserve system in response to recent surges in volunteers. She has six tails: Old, and likely to die soon, and admirable for continuing to work through what is surely debilitating pain.

It's good that the people in charge want to talk to him right away, instead of like, making him go up the chain, but he's not sure what to make of the fact that it's the head of the military he'll be speaking to.

Sid heads downstairs to get some food and inquire about clothing.

His outfit from yesterday is clean now. There's also a generic Kitsune shirt and pants that Chak has attempted to make fit. Half a dozen people are milling about breakfasting, including Witak.

Tablet: Akane suggests a 4:00 meeting. That's in most of an hour.

He'll wear the kistune clothing—thank you, Chak. He accepts the meeting, which gives him enough time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast, take a bath, brush his teeth, and find a quiet spot to take the call.

People try to chat with him during the leadup to the meeting, but let him go without fuss.

When the call connects, Akane Iho is in uniform. It's black, gold, red, made of simple cuts and limited embroidery of circles and radiant motifs. She looks as thin and young as anyone else, with the clearest signs of age being the six gently waving tails fanned out behind her and an obvious metal port visible at the base of her neck.

She has a solid poker face.

"Sidney Hill of Earth. Before anything else, I promise you this now and commit to it upon the honor of the institution, to be followed so long as it maintains any continuity at all. The military of Iwami, the United Global Military, will never prevent you from killing yourself if you clearly and of sound mind wish to, even if ordered to by the government. If you wish, I will commit to this non-interference even if you seem depressive, confused, or otherwise of unsound mind. I have issued standing orders to this effect to the general staff along with the briefing this morning on your situation, and I will take whatever steps you wish to proof this commitment to you, publicly or privately."

"I would like you to commit to that even if I seem of unsound mind, yes. Particularly because signs of an unsound mind in a Kitsune may be of no concern in a human."

"Are there parties other than the United Global Military that might prevent me from killing myself?"

"Then I do so commit. I will issue updated orders upon finishing this call."

She waves a golden scepter looking thing above the desk. It looks Very Ceremonial, like a judge's gavel. 

"There are three groups of note who might hold you captive if given opportunity. The Silver Oak organization, sometimes derisively called 'Snow Rats', style themselves the rightful rulers of Iwa. They are violent guerillas and operate only on Iwa. Similarly the Greentails are a separatist movement on an island known as Ekis. They are not violent as a whole but a small group of extremists have been known to commit acts of terrorism. Lastly, we have a loose network of organized criminals whose chief concerns are securing power and luxuries for themselves. The military does not investigate them, only occasionally supports police units in raids."

"I'm not expecting to receive any commitments from people who aren't part of the government. I mean, are there other parts of the government which have prisons they might try to put me into, or is there a legal mechanism for involuntary commitment to a psychiatric ward, or is there any other legally-sanctioned mechanism by which I might be deprived of the ability to kill myself?"

Akane pauses for a long moment.

"...I suppose I am predisposed to think of things in terms of threats and opponents. I apologize. It's hard to prevent a Kitsune determined to commit suicide from doing so. Let me think..."

"...In some cases, clans are permitted to restrain certain members of their own clan who have not reached the age of majority, or who have documented psychological disabilities. As your own clan these would not apply. The police also may generally confine people for a short time during an active crisis or investigation. Prisons exist and people are sometimes sentenced to them, but they are obligated by law to provide inmates a means of suicide- I think it might specifically be the Lilac Bridge they are obligated to provide on request, I'm not sure off the top of my head. I am not an expert on prisons but there are observer groups who inspect conditions and interview inmates to ensure the prisons are well-behaved. There are also quarantine measures, evacuation measures, and a generalized emergency measures clause. I was chosen to contact you because I represent the state's capacity for violence and thus would be most reassuring on the overall state's willingness to commit to this point. We can extract a treaty or public promise similar to mine from the various councils making up the World Government if you wish."

"I would like a commitment that no part of the government will prevent me from killing myself, or conveniently look the other way if someone not part of the government does so—by which mean, in a situation where the government would intervene if it was someone other than me who was kidnapped or imprisoned or whatever, they should not do nothing because it's me. I want an assurance that no games will be played, you understand? Because the commitments you have made thus far leave plenty of room to play games, if someone were so inclined."

"I understand. The reason the commitments offered thus far are relatively limited in scope is due to a general hesitancy to make binding agreements unconditional and especially to not do that quickly. Unconditional agreements are easy to wedge into corners. For example and I know this is not quite what you described, I don't want to commit, without thinking it through carefully, to rescuing you from kidnappers or ensuring your death if kidnappers are holding you and then find myself in an impossible, unreasonable situation- Say, where the only option is to kill a lot of people to get to you, or to go to war against an alien power for the same reason. Does that make sense?"

"All I ask in that regard is that the government not treat me any differently than an ordinary Iwami citizen, who it has no motivation to coerce."

"Say there is an alien, and the government wants something from him, but they can't coerce it from him else he kill himself. So this information is leaked to some patriot, who is not themselves a member of the government or bound by its commitments, and they take it upon themselves to kidnap, imprison, and torture him until he gives the government what they want. And the government, which, if they knew someone was kidnapped, might ordinarily take action about this, decides to do nothing, because in this case they would find it convenient if the kidnapper succeeds. So they allow him to be tortured until they get what they want. Like I said, playing games."

She scowls.

"That's- Criminal thinking. I can imagine the mindset that would choose such a thing but they are not wise, they are not- The kind of person who we select for greater responsibility. I would have words with anyone who even hinted at such stupidity. It courts terrorism, conflict. Breaks trust."

She schools her face again. "While not prepared to make such a commitment instantly, I have no doubt that the Council of Six Tails will be willing to commit to diligently protect you as a valuable member of the planetary community. The only cases where such protection might be- Limited- Would be if for example you insisted on wandering around northern Iwa without escort and against warnings of trouble there."

"Alright. I imagine you have questions for me?"

"Many. Do you remember what occurred immediately before and after you found yourself on Iwami? Could you point out exactly where it was, within a few tail-lengths? Are you aware of- Please do not go out of your way to learn about this, I want an unbiased perspective- A phenomenon where mental activity has a direct effect on physical reality? Do you know much about the stars surrounding your planet, enough to possibly identify it given star charts? Is Earth aware of other alien species and what are they like? Would Earth invade Iwami if it could? Trade with Iwami, instead? Various questions about Earth's technology, organizational systems, history, et cetera*, after those."

*Not literally 'et cetera' but a similarly anachronistic borrowed phrase from old language.

"I was crossing the street when I got hit by a truck. I experienced suddenly being in a different place, near an abandoned mine complex near here. I can point out exactly where I appeared, once I'm out of quarantine. I have no reason to believe mental activity affects physical reality other than the obvious—where people take different actions or behave differently depending on what they're thinking. I know some things about the stars visible from Earth, but probably not enough to identify it on a star chart. Earth is not aware of any other alien species. I don't expect Earth would invade Iwami if it could, both because Iwami could probably win any such war and because none of the states on Earth would have any real reason to do that. Everyone would probably be pretty enthusiastic about trading with Iwami, although there might be some frictions related to financial laws or tariffs or whatever."

The poker face continues.

"Would you be willing to try and point out your appearance point on a map so we can try to examine it? Are there any other assurances other than never preventing you from harming yourself and protecting you as we would a Kitsune citizen of fine standing, that you would like? Do you have any preferences for special treatment or lack thereof for the Kliiu clan? Do you have any preferences about with whom or how to contact you going forward? Do you have any questions for me?"