An Ling stared at that little bear.
She slowly moved her claws, aimed at the right spot, and pressed the button.
The claws firmly grasped the little bear and lifted it straight up.
An Ling maneuvered it over to the prize chute, released the claws, and the bear dropped neatly into the hole.
“Oh~ Got it.”
An Ling pulled out the doll.
Li Yang looked both happy and unhappy.
Was he just bad at this, or was An Ling insanely lucky?
“It was the guaranteed win. If I tried normally, I’d be the same as you.”
An Ling comforted him.
“It’s fine. As long as you grabbed it.”
“Let’s switch machines. Grab another one the same way.”
Li Yang led An Ling to the next claw machine.
An Ling stopped proactively in front of one machine.
She looked at the radish plush inside.
It was so cute—that radish doll that looked like the one from Protect the Radish inexplicably hit An Ling’s cute spot.
The radish was white and orange with two tiny little hands, round eyes, and two green leaves on top of its head.
“Do you like this one?”
Li Yang leaned in, following her line of sight.
“Hey! Isn’t this from Protect the Radish? But when you look closely, it’s completely different.”
“No.” An Ling pulled her gaze back, but her tail uncontrollably pointed toward it.
Li Yang glanced at her tail and couldn’t help teasing her.
“Before you act all tsundere, can you tuck your tail away first? It’s pointing straight at it, and you still say no?”
An Ling froze.
She turned around and saw her big fluffy tail pointing directly at the claw machine like an arrow, the tip even slightly raised.
“…”
An Ling quickly pulled her tail back and hugged it to her chest, her face turning slightly red.
“What does a tail prove?… It has a mind of its own!”
“Forget about the tail. I want to grab two radishes.”
Li Yang took out a few coins.
“We’ll take two home and stir-fry them for dinner tonight.”
Li Yang inserted the coins, gripped the joystick, and focused intently on the radish.
The claw moved, aimed, and descended.
It grabbed the radish’s leaves and lifted…
Plop.
The radish swayed in midair, then fell back down—even farther than before.
“Sigh.” Li Yang shook his head.
“This claw is way too loose.”
He inserted two more coins.
This time he aimed for the radish’s body.
The claw dropped, grabbed it, and lifted…
Plop.
It fell again.
“I…”
Li Yang took a deep breath and inserted two more coins.
On the third try, the claw caught the radish’s short little leg.
He lifted it and slowly moved it toward the chute. It was almost there.
Plop.
The radish teetered on the edge of the slot, fell back, and even flipped over.
Its silly smiling face stared outward, as if mocking him.
An Ling stood beside him, watching him fail again and again.
The corners of her mouth kept twitching upward, and she quickly forced them back down.
Finally, on the eleventh try, the guarantee kicked in. A white radish dropped out.
Li Yang took out the radish. He no longer found the little thing cute at all.
“Let me try grabbing one.”
An Ling placed the little bear in Li Yang’s arms and stepped up to the machine.
She inserted two coins, and the machine whirred to life.
An Ling controlled the claw, aiming it at an orange radish.
The claw descended and grabbed right in the center of the radish.
It lifted the plush and moved toward the prize chute.
An Ling’s heart tightened with anticipation.
It looked like it would succeed in one go.
Plop.
The doll landed right beside the slot.
“What a shame~”
An Ling said, staring at the radish so close to falling in.
She inserted two more coins.
Even though it was already next to the slot, she still failed.
The radish ended up in an even worse position, making the next attempt impossible.
An Ling switched targets, but she didn’t succeed until her seventh try.
On the eighth attempt, An Ling once again grabbed an orange radish in the middle and moved the claw toward the slot.
“Oh! Oh!” An Ling’s full attention was on the claw holding the radish.
Her tail kept unconsciously brushing against Li Yang.
Li Yang got tickled by the big tail swatting him and switched sides, but the tail followed him over.
With no other choice, Li Yang also fixed his eyes on the claw gripping the radish.
It was almost at the slot when the claw suddenly released.
“Sigh! It dropped.”
Just as both of them thought it was over, the radish unexpectedly landed on the head of the first crooked radish An Ling had grabbed.
It bounced perfectly into the prize chute.
“Wow! It came out!” An Ling happily squatted down and retrieved the orange radish.
“See! No guarantee needed—it came out on the eighth try!”
An Ling joyfully held up the radish to show off.
For once, she completely forgot about those strange things in her head.
“Just lucky. I’m not bad either.”
Li Yang held his white radish.
“Plus, the white ones are rarer, so they’re definitely harder to grab.”
“Tch~ Stubborn mouth. I didn’t need any guarantee.”
Li Yang couldn’t argue back.
An Ling had grabbed two while he only got one.
It really seemed like she had won.
No helping it.
He’d have to win back a round at the next machine, Li Yang thought as he looked at An Ling ahead of him.
An Ling was holding up the orange radish with a brilliant smile that had been rare these past few days.
Her eyes curved into crescents, the corners of her mouth lifted high, revealing two sharp little fangs.
Her tail wagged happily behind her, and even her gray ears on top of her head twitched along.
Li Yang stared at her for a moment.
Right now, An Ling looked just like a girl next door who had gotten her favorite toy.
If he weren’t so familiar with her, he might have been charmed.
But no matter what, it was good to see his childhood friend smiling so happily. It was much better than her usual self.
“What are you staring at?”
An Ling noticed his gaze and quickly wiped the smile from her face, though the laughter still lingered in her eyes.
“You lost fair and square. Don’t be a sore loser.”
“Who’s a sore loser?”
Li Yang came back to his senses and shook the white radish in his hand.
“Mine is way rarer. Yours are all over the place.”
“Besides, who said I was competing with you? You’re acting like a kid.”
“Tch~” An Ling looked around.
“I’m not arguing with you anymore. I’m going to get a cart.”
An Ling trotted over on her short legs and pushed a shopping cart back.
She placed the two radishes of different colors and the little bear inside.
“Let’s go grab some more.”
Li Yang waved his hand dramatically.
“Today I’m going to get at least a dozen.”
Li Yang’s skills were indeed pretty poor.
Most of the time he could only watch helplessly as the plushies were picked up and then dropped back down.
Occasionally, when luck was on his side and he got one, he would hold it up to show off to An Ling.
An Ling was a little better than him, but not by much.
Succeeding once or twice out of ten tries was already good.
But when the two of them played together, the number of failures didn’t seem to matter as much.
“Aiya, it dropped again!”
“Press more gently. Don’t use so much force.”
“I didn’t use force. The claw is too loose.”
“It’s definitely you using too much force. Watch how I do it…”
The two of them crowded in front of one machine, heads close together, completely focused on the wobbling plushie.