After dinner, Min glances out of the window and an idea comes to him. He leads Xi P to the west-facing window and gestures for it to look up.

  The entire western sky is painted red by a magnificent sunset.

  Xi P stares motionlessly at the sky, its mouth slightly agape in unconscious wonder, clearly immersed in the beautiful scenery. Min doesn't know if such sunsets exist back in its home world, but since it arrived by spaceship, it certainly has not witnessed such a sight for a long time.

  'Speaking of spaceships, is that thing back on the slope actually a ship? I should try to ask it tomorrow.'

  Standing beside it, Min joins in, admiring the sunset's glow. The weather today is truly perfect...

  ***

  The sunset gradually fades, and the sky dims. Night is descending. Min gets up and tugs at Xi P, pulling it out of its lingering reverie over the sunset. Finally, something that will leave it with a positive impression of Earth.

  Bedtime is still hours away. Normally, he would just browse the web at this time of night. But with a fox-like alien by his side, how can he resist having some fun?

  Perfectly normal fun, of course. Like playing board games or watching movies. As well as being fun, this will also serve to test Xi P's intelligence, values and culture. Min quickly finds an unused Go board in the corner and sets it up in front of Xi P, who at first doesn't understand what the wooden boxes covered in patterns are for. It taps them curiously with its fingers, seemingly mistaking them for some kind of electronic device.

  Explaining the rules of Gomoku (five in a row) to Xi P isn't too difficult — Min even suspects that board games exist in its world too. He demonstrates a few examples of connecting five pieces, using nods and shakes to indicate affirmative and negative responses. Soon, they reach a mutual understanding of the rules through body language. Min decides to play it easy with Xi P — after all, it is still a beginner.

  ***

  Half an hour later.

  Min packs away the Go board with a gloomy expression, ready to switch to a less beginner-friendly game to boost his confidence. Although he hasn't studied any Gomoku manuals, losing to Xi P in just the fifth game is still hard to swallow.

  Xi P learns incredibly fast, of course this alone doesn't prove any species-wide superiority. Setting aside the possibility that their brain structure might offer innate advantages in board games, individual differences exist even within the same species. It wouldn't be unreasonable for another human beginner to beat him after five games. Min considers himself reasonably intelligent, but who knows? Xi P might even be a highly intelligent scientist from their civilisation.

  ***

  'Maybe I shouldn't play board games with it anymore. It's not good for either of us...' Min's cheeks burns with embarrassment.

  After trying Gomoku, Connect Four, Sternhalma, and even a simplified version of Go, Min has come to the conclusion: Xi P is seriously good at board games!

  Perhaps sensing his frustration, Xi P pulls out a smartphone-like device and shows him a series of pages that appear to be digitised board game interfaces. One of the pages features a photo that looks strikingly similar to Xi P, prominently displayed at the top of a leaderboard. Min guesses that Xi P is implying that it is a seasoned veteran of board games, which would make his defeat perfectly normal.

  At least, that's how Min prefers to interpret it. It can't possibly be saying 'Look how simplistic your Earth board games are compared to ours', can it?

  'Watching a movie might be more appropriate.' Min thinks.

  It's almost movie time. A TV station usually shows classic films on Saturday nights. The only problem is that this week's selection is Inception, which is obviously unsuitable for someone with no cultural foundation, like an alien.

  'I need to find a more suitable film for it. Hmm... Skip the fantasy and sci-fi genres to avoid misunderstandings. It doesn't look like a young fox, so children's shows probably won't work either. Sitcoms require too much cultural knowledge and seem unsuitable. Historical documentaries should be more appropriate — especially those covering historical records.'

  Browsing through the DVD collection, Min happily locates the exact one he needs — a documentary about human origins. It requires minimal cultural knowledge, its content aligns with his current needs and the visuals convey sufficient meaning. The only potential hurdle is language. But, given Xi P's state, only silent films would be truly barrier-free. It's not as if he has any Chaplin comedies in his collection.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  The disc slides in, and the documentary's opening sequence fills the screen. Xi P seems utterly captivated by the Earth's chronicle, never taking its eyes off the display once it starts and keeping both ears perpetually pointed towards the television. Min even gets a chance to sneak a pat on its head, seemingly unnoticed.

  As the documentary unfolds, Xi P gradually begins to understand the subject matter. Occasionally, it turns its head towards Min, then back to the screen, its face filled with utter bewilderment.

  'Well, now it probably knows where we hairless apes come from. Given its appearance, it must have evolved quite differently from us, so it's natural for it to be amazed by this documentary... just as I'm curious about the origins of its own upright fox kind.'

  Halfway through the film, Min suddenly feels a belated pang of dread: Surely the movie will show scenes of primitive humans hunting in packs or setting traps. Everything else is manageable, but what if it shows traps used to hunt foxes? He doesn't want to risk triggering the fox-like alien beside him. Fortunately, two and a half hours pass without such a scene appearing. Both of them are relaxed completely, sitting on the sofa and watching the end credits roll. Min ponders his own future, while Xi P... well, Min can't tell what it is thinking. He can only guess it is reflecting on the film's content and meaning.

  Glancing at the clock, it is already 9 o'clock. Time to go to sleep.

  'But does it even need sleep? Probably. Since it can enter a state of unconsciousness, it must require sleep too — there's actually a connection between the two... What is it doing now?'

  Watching it splash something invisible over itself, scratch here and there, and manipulate an invisible control panel, it isn't hard to deduce its intent: it likely wants to take a shower in the bathroom.

  Setting aside the undeniable uncleanliness of Xi P's body, the need for self-cleaning would theoretically apply beyond Earth lifeforms. Min finds this unsurprising and entirely understandable. It's just that seeing a creature shaped like that using liquid to clean itself is hard not to associate with a canine that has fallen into water.

  Well, liquid water, that is. It certainly isn't the type to burrow into sandpits or mud pools, or wait for some symbiotic creatures to eat the bugs off its body, right?

  After finally banishing the comical imagery from his mind, Min nods to Xi P. Stepping out of the bathroom and closing the door, he soon hears the sound of running water inside. He doesn't recall teaching it how to use the bathroom faucet, but whatever.

  Sitting on the edge of the bed, Min begins to reflect on Xi P. It must be said that Xi P's performance falls far short of many depictions in films and TV shows. It possesses neither immense strength nor the ability to instantly extend numerous tentacles to attack its surroundings. It didn't exhibit psychic powers or anything similar, and even in terms of intelligence, it (presumably) held no absolute advantage. This is only to be expected. Ecologically speaking, overly powerful predators lacking reproductive control would swiftly deplete local resources, causing their populations to plummet — and in some environments, even leading to their own extinction. Physically speaking, the conservation of mass-energy precludes many exaggerated abilities, the rest remain impossible under Earth's temperature and oxygen levels. At least not with today's 21% oxygen concentration — the Carboniferous period might have offered some potential...

  What truly astonishes is the similarity in bodily structure and social morality. Some serious scientific theories suggest that there may indeed be only one viable biochemical foundation in the universe, and that limbs capable of manipulating objects are essential for civilisation. As for looking so much like a fox... well...

  "Min Ye! Min Ye!"

  Suddenly, Min hears Xi P calling his name urgently. Curious as to what could be causing Xi P such distress, he gets up and heads towards the bathroom.

  As soon as he steps out of the room, he spots Xi P with the bathroom door ajar, peeking out with only its head visible. Seeing Min approach, it extends a furry hand and begins tracing shapes in the air. It takes Min a moment to realise that it is sketching the outline of clothing.

  Min can't help but cover his face in embarrassment at not realising the problem sooner. Clearly, Xi P's previous outfit is too dirty to be worn again. It wouldn't do to go out naked, even if it is covered in fur. It's not hard to guess that they probably have some sense of shame, too...

  He retrieves another set of pyjamas and hands them to Xi P. Though both are bipedal creatures with two arms and two legs, he knows without trying that they wouldn't fit too well. Xi P closes the door tightly. After a flurry of activity inside, it emerges again, having somehow dried itself off. Min can only hope it didn't shake itself dry like a canine.

  'And I wouldn't want it to use my towel either — that would be a real pain to clean up.'

  Min enters the bathroom with some trepidation. It is filled with steam and a scent from Xi P that isn't quite fox-like. His heart sinks at the sight: the bathtub is filled to the brim with hot water, and his towel is now covered in fresh water stains and... fur. It seems that Xi P did indeed use his towel to dry off.

  'It really didn't care at all about saving electricity. I suppose it's understandable. They've probably achieved controlled nuclear fusion where it comes from, so hot water and residential electricity are free. Guess I need a new towel now. Should've given it the towel meant for its use first.'

  Returning to the bedroom, Min flops heavily onto the bed. Seeing this, Xi P immediately tries to get on the bed as well. Despite its adorable appearance, however, Min has no intention of letting it sleep with him — that would be far too... inappropriate. Instead, he gets up, points towards the living room and gestures for Xi P to sleep on the sofa.

  To be honest, Min initially considered letting Xi P sleep on the carpet. Who knows if the sofa will still be usable after a night with it? But that seemed too cruel — it isn't a real fox, after all.

  Xi P points towards the living room, then towards the bed, and finally at itself — one ear perks straight up while the other droops to the side. It's not hard to tell that it's complaining. Seeing Min's firm stance, however, it obediently leaves the room. Presumably to sleep on the sofa.