Yukinoshita's Correction Method

"...The joystick controls the mechanical claw." Dong Yunshan remembered the way Yukino Yukinoshita had stood in front of the vending machine with a coin earlier. "Then you press the button, and the claw descends."

"Oh... thank you." A faint blush rose on Yukino Yukinoshita's face. She reached out and took hold of the joystick, nudging it gently. After getting a simple feel for it, she began adjusting the position, aimed at the plush toy, and pressed the button.

The mechanical claw whirred and groaned as it slowly descended.

"...I got it." Yukino Yukinoshita lifted her chin slightly and secretly clenched her little fist.

The mechanical claw descended shakily, steadily grabbed the plush toy, and slowly rose.

Volume Three, Final Exams and Spring Break: Chapter Eighty-Nine, Outdated Technique

Yukino Yukinoshita had clearly never played a claw machine before, and she had celebrated a little too soon.

In Dong Yunshan's experience, picking up the plush did not mean you could actually win it.

Sure enough, when the mechanical claw rose to its highest point, it gave an extremely stiff pause.

The plush toy dropped free, regaining its freedom.

"Why?" Yukino Yukinoshita watched expressionlessly as the mechanical claw returned to its original position. "Didn't it already grab it?"

"The claw's strength can be adjusted. It's divided into strong grip and weak grip." Dong Yunshan chuckled softly while holding baby Xi. "If the friction generated by the grip isn't enough to support the plush's weight, it'll fall very easily."

Yukino Yukinoshita's delicate brows furrowed slightly. "But it clearly grabbed it."

"Claw machines are split into two processes: grabbing the plush and transporting the plush. Some businesses change the grip strength in stages. For example, they set it to strong when grabbing, then weak when transporting." Dong Yunshan explained further, "In practice, that means—it grabs it, but drops it the moment it moves."

"A consumer trap..." Yukino Yukinoshita narrowed her eyes. "The operator won't let customers win easily, but they also won't make it completely impossible—probability programming?"

Dong Yunshan nodded. "After a fixed number of weak grips, there'll be one strong grip."

"That number is probably the price of the prize in the machine." Yukino Yukinoshita inserted a bill into the change machine to exchange it for coins, then placed a stack of coins beside the coin slot. "In that case, I just need to try a few more times."

The claw machine started crying out again.

Whirrrr~

Yukino Yukinoshita's expression remained unchanged. "Still not enough...?"

Whirrrr~

Yukino Yukinoshita's eyes turned icy. "...Damn it, again."

Whirrrr~

Yukino Yukinoshita pressed her lips together. "Ngh!"

"Wah wah!" Dong Yunxi waved her little hands. "Wuuu!"

Yukino Yukinoshita's gaze shifted slightly, and she stopped putting in coins. "Let's stop here for today. We'll eat first."

So you were planning to come back another day and keep trying until you got it?

"You hold Xixi." Dong Yunshan handed Dong Yunxi to Yukino Yukinoshita. "I'll give it a try."

Yukino Yukinoshita took Dong Yunxi and held her in her arms. "Are you good at this?"

"I haven't played in a long time." Dong Yunshan inserted a coin and adjusted the joystick a couple of times. "No idea if I'm rusty."

Yukino Yukinoshita's gaze dimmed slightly. It seemed Dong Yunshan really was only trying.

Whirrrr~

The machine made a sound. This time, other noises were mixed in too.

That was... the mechanical claw's wail.

Dong Yunshan quickly flicked the joystick left and right, and the mechanical claw swung with it.

The instant the amplitude reached a certain point, Dong Yunshan pressed the button.

The swaying mechanical claw avoided the baffle by the chute, grabbed a plush toy beside it, and slowly lifted it.

When it rose to the very top, the mechanical claw paused hard, and the claw's strength loosened.

The plush toy slipped free of the mechanical claw above the baffle and fell into the chute.

Thud.

Dong Yunshan took out the plush toy and held it in front of Yukino Yukinoshita. "Done."

This little trick, called hook swinging, was something most claw machine players knew. The key was pressing the button at the right moment.

Catching that right moment was no problem for people who often played games or had fast reflexes.

Even people who did not play games could achieve the crooked-lift trick through repeated practice.

So before long, many claw machines had anti-hook-swinging designs.

"You can do that?" Yukino Yukinoshita stared blankly at the plush toy in Dong Yunshan's hand. "I... you won that."

"I won it for you using your money." Dong Yunshan placed the plush toy to the side and took Dong Yunxi from Yukino Yukinoshita's arms. "Right, Xixi?"

"Wah!" Dong Yunxi did not understand, but still replied happily.

Yukino Yukinoshita picked up the plush toy and held it in her arms. "...I won't give it back, you know."

"If I wanted one, I'd pay to win it myself." Dong Yunshan looked toward the few claw machines nearby. "Is there anything else you want?"

"I'm not interested in any other plushies. I only like Panda Johnny." Yukino Yukinoshita wiggled the panda's paws. "I've always collected these plushies, but prizes like these are different from products sold on the market. You can only get them through claw machines, and that's always been a headache for me. I did consider buying them through online auctions, but there's no guarantee the items will be in good condition, and the pictures sellers provide might have been edited, so I could never quite make up my mind..."

After saying so much in one breath, Yukino Yukinoshita was a little breathless. She pinched Panda Johnny's paw, her face faintly red.

"I see." Dong Yunshan nodded. "Then I'll grab two more later."

Yukino Yukinoshita: "Hm?"

"One to use, one to collect, and one to evangelize with."

"Is that really a thing... Huh?" Yukino Yukinoshita's gaze shifted. "Is that...?"

"Oh no!" Yui Yuigahama's expression went blank. "We've been spotted."

"We happened to run into them by chance," Komachi Hikigaya corrected softly. Then she walked into the family restaurant with Yui Yuigahama. "It really is you two. You were holding a little baby, so Yui and I watched for a while and didn't dare recognize you."

Too natural!

Yui Yuigahama realized the gap between herself and Komachi Hikigaya.

"What a coincidence." Dong Yunshan introduced her. "This is my little sister, Dong Yunxi."

Dong Yunxi stared without blinking at the two strangers.

"So cute~" Afraid of scaring the baby, Yui Yuigahama did not approach rashly and greeted her from a distance. "Hello, Xi Xi~"

Dong Yunxi blinked and looked at Yukino Yukinoshita beside her.

Yukino Yukinoshita patted baby Yunxi's head. "They're your brother's friends."

Dong Yunxi cooperated with a reply. "Waa~"

Click!

The shutter sounded, and everyone's gazes turned to Komachi Hikigaya at the same time.

"Take a look." Komachi Hikigaya held her phone up in front of the two of them, showing the photo she had just taken. "Forget us—even you two probably wouldn't recognize yourselves at first glance."

Although it was only a photo, with the background of a claw machine filled with plushies, it had a unique atmosphere.

It was as if this wasn't a photo, but a story.

In any case, they didn't look like two students still in school.

Yui Yuigahama gave Komachi Hikigaya a look: Email it to me later.

Komachi Hikigaya gave her a look back: Got it.

Yukino Yukinoshita and Dong Yunshan glanced at each other, then both looked away at the same time.

"You haven't eaten yet, right?" Dong Yunshan lifted his chin, indicating the seats beside the baby crib. "Join us. My treat."

"No, no." Yui Yuigahama hurriedly waved her hands. "We..."

"It's not like this is our last meal together," Dong Yunshan interrupted her. "No need to be so polite."

"Yay!" Komachi Hikigaya cheered. "I'm ordering the most expensive thing!"

"No problem." Dong Yunshan smiled. "Order double!"

"Then we have to go out together again next time," Yui Yuigahama said, also breaking into a smile.

Everyone sat down, and the waiter prepared a child seat.

Although Dong Yunxi could not eat, she sat in the child seat and looked around curiously, which gave her at least some sense of participation.

"So that's what happened." After listening to Yukino Yukinoshita and Dong Yunshan explain the sequence of events, Yui Yuigahama could not help admiring her. "As expected of Yukinon. You're even amazing at taking care of babies."

Yukino Yukinoshita waved a hand. "I just happened to have read some related books."

Dong Yunshan took baby wipes out of the stroller and handed them over. "Don't listen to her being modest. She looked up a lot of information afterward too."

Yukino Yukinoshita took the wipe and wiped Dong Yunxi's drool. "Since I gave you guidance and suggestions, I have to be responsible for them. Naturally, I needed to look up more information."

Dong Yunshan wiped the teether clean with a wet wipe and casually handed it to Yukino Yukinoshita.

Yukino Yukinoshita carefully inspected it and confirmed that there were no damaged spots that might hurt the baby before handing it to Dong Yunxi and letting her bite it and play.

June was exactly the teething period. Babies secreted more saliva, and since they had not fully mastered swallowing yet, drooling was only natural.

Letting a baby bite a teether applied pressure to her gums and relieved the discomfort of teething.

Dong Yunxi grabbed the teether and stuffed it into her mouth, biting it with great enthusiasm.

Yui Yuigahama and Komachi Hikigaya were dazzled watching them. They only felt that Dong Yunshan and Yukino Yukinoshita seemed very busy, while they themselves had no idea what the two were busy doing.

But clearly, Yukino Yukinoshita and Dong Yunshan both knew what the other was going to do. As they chatted, they completed a smooth and natural coordination.

Even though they had only not seen each other for a few days, in that daze, Yui Yuigahama actually had the illusion that they were no longer the same age.

"Ah..." Komachi Hikigaya struck her palm with her fist. "I feel like I suddenly understand Ms. Hiratsuka's feelings."

Yui Yuigahama was confused. "Ms. Hiratsuka's feelings?"

"She herself is still single," Komachi Hikigaya's gaze wavered, "but classmates the same age as her have already started taking care of a little baby—that kind of complicated feeling."

Dong Yunshan sighed. "Don't ever let Ms. Hiratsuka hear that."

"Hehe~" Komachi Hikigaya stuck out her tongue. "Now that I've experienced firsthand how hard teachers have it, how could I possibly provoke her to her face? That line scores really high on the Komachi scale!"

As they spoke, a man and a woman arrived at the table beside them with a little boy about five or six years old. They looked like a family of three.

But unlike the relaxed, cheerful atmosphere here, the man's brow was tightly furrowed and his face was full of exhaustion. The woman looked worried, and the little boy had his head lowered, aggrieved and helpless.

After they ordered, the man let out a long sigh and stared at the little boy. "Taro, do you know how dangerous that was just now?"

"I know..." The little boy, Taro, kept his head down and answered in a small voice.

"Then why did you still rush out!" the man said harshly. "Didn't your kindergarten teacher teach you?"

The woman grabbed the man's hand as he was about to slap the table and looked around. "Don't..."

"I haven't even gotten to you yet." The man glared. "If the kindergarten can't teach him properly, can't you, his mother, teach him either? I work overtime from dawn till late every single day, and this is how you've raised him?"

The woman held his wrist. "Let's talk when we get home..."

"With him like this, can he even get home safely?" The man questioned the little boy. "What should you do when you see a red light?"

"Y-you should go... you should stop." The little boy noticed the change in the man's expression and changed his answer halfway through, immediately correcting himself.

"You were watching my face just now, weren't you?" The man's expression turned even uglier. "Something as basic as stopping at a red light and going at a green light, and you still need to read my face to get it right! You..."

Dong Yunshan frowned slightly and was just about to speak.

"Please don't make a loud disturbance in a public place." Yukino Yukinoshita stroked Dong Yunxi's head, then turned and reminded him expressionlessly, "Your kindergarten teacher should have taught you that."

Yui Yuigahama's eyes were filled with admiration.

Plenty of people hated those who made a racket, but not everyone would speak up to stop them.

The man's gaze turned hostile. "What's it got to do with—"

Before he could finish, Dong Yunshan had already stood up and taken off his jacket, revealing arms with obvious traces of training.

"This is a public place. Please do not make a loud disturbance." Dong Yunshan rolled his shoulders twice, the muscles of his back spreading with the motion. "Thank you."

The man's expression stiffened, and just as he was about to say something, the woman apologized first. "I'm sorry. We disturbed you. We'll be careful."