I've seen a few people concerned that the player is forcing Kris to be friends with Susie (or insinuating that Susie isn't really friends with Kris because the player is in control of them during interactions), and I can't really understand either sentiment. While it's true that the player is in control of Kris whenever Kris is around Susie, Kris makes numerous autonomous actions when interacting with Susie that the player has no control over, that insinuate that Kris genuinely likes and is friends with Susie. Off the top of my head:
In Chapter 1, Kris defends Susie from King's attack on their own; no input from the player is available at this time.
In Chapter 2, if Ralsei hugs Kris following the Spamton Neo battle, Kris looks to Susie on their own and seemingly asks if she'll hug them, too. (If no hug is given, Kris looks to Susie to ask for her jacket.)
In Chapter 3, if the player uses MiniKris to try to stab Susie, Kris pulls Susie out of the way while breathing heavily, as if hyperventilating.
In Chapter 4, the narration mentions that Kris feels as if things might be okay, no matter what they are, so long as Susie is beside them while looking in the mirror.
In Chapter 4, Kris chooses of their own free will to pour their juice into Susie's mouth as Susie pours her juice into Kris' mouth.
In Chapter 4, the player can only choose to put the stickers in "a good place" or "a bad place." No matter which place the player chooses, Kris chooses to put them on Susie's face.
In Chapter 4, Kris chooses to high-five Susie after they get invited to Noelle's house (in the normal route).
In Chapter 4, Kris chooses to draw Susie's face on the window at the diner if you choose to have them draw something; the player does not get to choose what Kris draws.
In Chapter 4, Kris chooses to hold Susie's feet and drive her around like a lawn mower when she chooses to eat from the snack plate in the normal route.
In Chapter 4, the narration notes that Susie's smile seems to chase all bad things away at the end of the chapter, when Kris is looking at them.
Kris chooses, many times, to show how much they like Susie. They play around with her without our input, or sometimes even use our input to play around with her even when we didn't tell them to. They defend her without our input, and sometimes even from us; and they seek comfort from her, too, even when she wasn't otherwise included in the moment. The player can choose time and time again to leave Susie out or be mean to her, but Kris chooses to include her, time and time and time again. (Additionally, Kris can also modify what they say, either by preventing themselves from saying it or by saying it in a tone / a way that suggests they don't mean it. I haven't seen the result of trying to make Kris be mean to Susie, but given how they won't let us use them to be mean to Ralsei in chapters three and four, I imagine we'd have the same result if we tried to use them to be mean to Susie.)
Kris genuinely likes Susie, and genuinely considers her to be their friend. And conversely, given how much Kris plays around with Susie without our input, I think it's safe to say that Susie really does like Kris, as well, and considers them to be her friend, and that wouldn't change even if she found out about the player situation. Hell, if anything, she'd probably just want to beat us out of them, so that they could be free to be themselves all the time.
So I genuinely can't understand people who think that Susie and Kris don't really know each other, or that we're forcing this situation. Because even if you choose to get away from Susie at all costs at every opportunity, whenever Kris takes control, they take measures to protect and spend time with her.
