Haru does need to routinely do conversational turn-taking in there, maybe she can sneak bites then.

She's taken occasional bites!  Like three of them!

No but then the thing is that some of it is also so bad, according to Ari.  Like how a third of the way through the game the other side also starts hiring you, and their minefields work according to a different set of rules so you have to learn those, and like, it kind of makes sense that they'd want to use you since you're technically a robot software, it turns out, and they can just run multiple copies of you, but then it's established that the other side has a whole thing about -

There's someone else in the kitchen, now.

"- Jesus Christ.  Oh my go - Svetka Ignatev - Ignatyeva???"

"Whoa I did not hear you come in? Hello?"

"I thought you were dead!  - I didn't very think you were dead but like the official story is - you already know that, you definitely already know that."  She keeps confusedly compromising between putting her hands up in a gesture of surrender and clutching at Haru.  "Uh, please don't kill us?"

Haru's evaluation goes rapidly from "maybe an unexpected drop-in friend of Xavier's who Ari doesn't get along with amazingly" to, uh, "armed intruder". "Please, it's my birthday," he says, because he can't think of anything else because he is insane, why does he have to confront an armed intruder while insane, that's unfair. He can put up one hand, the one that isn't busy hugging Ari.

"I'm not going to kill you," she says to Haru.  Specifically to him; she's not looking at Ari at all.  "But you're going to come with me."

"Why, what's going on? How do you even know I exist?"

"I will not be answering that question.  You're being kidnapped."

"I - I know I can't do anything to stop you, but, I can't let you take - am I invited?  If, if you want anything out of him you want him as an ally, and - you have to be really careful, you can't hit him on the head, it could really hurt him, like really really - I know a bunch of things -"

"Please don't hit me on the head, that causes brain damage where I'm from. Or give me drugs either, I may have weird drug reactions."

"Then I hope you will cooperate without need for such things."  She finally looks at Ari.  "No, you're not 'invited'."

"Please, he's horribly lonely - if you want to not hurt him - and you should! - you have to know how.  Ma'am."  Ari glances around at the surrounding cupboards.  "...Could I please take an orsitamet -"

Svetka closes the distance between them and punches Ari in the side of the head.

"Ohhh shit," says Haru. "Is her neck okay, even if her brain is - why are you kidnapping me? Where are we going?"

"Hold still.  Please."  She produces a pair of handcuffs and starts putting them on him.

"I have dyspraxia, I'm not a threat." Can he get his hands in front of him instead of behind, at least.

Yes.  Though there's a rope next, and she proceeds to ensure he has very little wiggle room.  "Mmhm.  Anything more you'd like to tell me about how to minimize harm to you?"

"I am having a psychiatric problem that will last the next, like, six days, ish, which makes me extremely lonely, so you have to talk to me, pretty much constantly, I think phone calls are fine if you get sick of me and want to put me on with your handler or somebody. Also hugs are good. For a value of good that does not in fact address the symptoms but does address the constant urge to try to address the symptoms."

"And this is magic, yes?"

"Yeah. I don't have superpowers right now but expect to after it's over. But I'm not going to want to use them without access to other espers because that'll just get me like this again, with bonus organ failure."

"I hope we can find you some, then."  She hoists Ari and carries her to the armchair in the living room.  Same treatment here, handcuffs and rope, except that Ari gets anchored to the chair and doesn't get her legs left free.

"How long does getting punched in the head keep somebody out for?"