See? Now I know about you that you find it difficult to imagine things that are fairly straightforward, and you think it's more important to escape a question than be able to answer it! I wouldn't say the counterfactual, "If you had to kick a sleeping friend in the ribs and never tell them why, what would your excuse be?" is all that complicated. Nor should the attempt in any counterfactual be to apply the rules of another universe to your thinking, or weasel out of the question. Yes, if blackmail was used You use a lot of words you don't need to to get your point across.then it becomes conceivable to avoid the question by outmaneuvering the blackmailer.
Which is precisely the reason that blackmail isn't used. Because answers to show how cute and clever you are are much less interesting than straight answers.