This Claw Machine Is Rigged

"You're a real piece of work. You worked all day just to blow everything on claw machines, then came here to eat on credit?"

"Money's meant to be spent. So, Boss Slowking, want a plushie? I'll sell you a Substitute plush for a hundred. Maybe you'll even become a Stand user!"

"Are you planning to use that to pay your rent?"

"Huohu~"

Delphox was quite happy to take one, so Xingye gave it to her outright. After secretly giving her big tail a quick rub, he continued eating.

When he returned that evening, Meowth and the others chased after him again as expected. Still, he escaped safely. From now on, he would probably have to outwit that bunch every day.

After eating, he and Cyclizar went back upstairs. He found a spot to put all the plushies on display, then turned in early.

The next morning, Smile Restaurant finally opened again. Xingye was delighted to see Nae-chan after so long, and he could finally put his talent for learning to good use.

Although they had not seen each other for many days, Nae-chan seemed to know about his previous hospitalization. She wrote in the air to ask how his recovery was going.

"I'm fine. Completely stable!"

After the restaurant closed, Xingye rode Cyclizar straight to school. He was a little more careful when leaving the Drifter District.

Still, he could not avoid running into that bunch. In the end, he escaped safely again.

Today, he was properly dressed for once. When he arrived in class, some people did not even recognize him at first. But after spotting the goggles around his neck, they immediately identified him and gave him no friendly looks.

Xingye ignored them all. After returning to his seat, he lay down and started catching up on sleep. Whenever he truly could not fall asleep, he would raise his head to observe his surroundings. His daily rhythm gradually settled into this routine.

He slept during class in the daytime, worked with Cyclizar in the commercial district after school, and outwitted Meowth and the others on his way to and from school.

The only slight change was that even the teachers had finally given up on him. At first, they would still call out to him during practical lessons, but later they simply acted as if there were no such person in the class. The other students did the same...

Just like that, time swiftly reached the end of November. Before he knew it, Xingye had been in this world for over a month.

Today was the weekend. As usual, he came to the commercial district to work. Boss Slowking had started pressing him for repayment, and he had to settle all the money he owed for meals on credit within the next couple of days.

"After I finish today, it should be about enough. Even after paying two months' rent, I'll still have plenty left over."

He was not in a hurry to repay the money. What he thought about more was Odd Jobs. Saving money was for that.

Although raising Pokémon seemed to cost a lot, Cyclizar did not appear to need training. Otherwise, he would probably have had to keep delaying those plans...

There were many people out having fun on weekends, especially at entertainment venues in shopping plazas like claw machine arcades, which were even more bustling.

Xingye was fairly tired during times like this. He had to stop kids from causing trouble. Not only would they secretly stick their hands into the prize chutes to steal things when the crowds were thick, some even brought screwdrivers to force the machines open.

Over the past half month, he had caught several of them. But most of those kids were not even ten years old, and many of the things they stole were cheap. At most, the boss would give them a verbal warning before letting them go...

Around noon, he and Cyclizar had just returned from lunch nearby when he saw a group of kids gathered around a claw machine, noisily arguing about something.

"What are you doing again? Don't steal anything."

Xingye walked over and discovered that the kids were trying to grab a batch of newly arrived plushies. Halloween was approaching, and the machine was stuffed full of Ghost-type Pokémon, such as Mimikyu and Sandygast.

"A hundred coins, and I still can't grab this thing? It's on purpose, isn't it?!"

The kid who had just been operating the machine suddenly slapped the claw machine in anger. The other children around him laughed at him, making him even more irritated.

Suddenly, he spotted Xingye approaching. He shoved the others aside and walked over.

"Hey! Your damn claw machine is rigged! I'm going to report you!"

"If you suck, practice more."

"I suck? I've cleared out every claw machine around here, and you're calling me bad?"

"If you suck, don't play."

Xingye was not about to indulge these brats. Their buffs might be even stronger than his, but there was no harm in scaring them a little.

Hearing that, the kid became even angrier and shouted, "If I suck, then you do it! You said there's nothing wrong with it, so grab that pink Gengar for us!"

"A pink Gengar? That's not even a Shiny... Another limited-edition plushie?"

Limited editions were how claw machines attracted players. The previous Rowlet collaboration plushie and Cyclizar Substitute plushie had both been like that. They were basically limited banner prizes, and everyone came specifically for them.

Since the kid had made the request, Xingye naturally had to demonstrate. He needed to make these brats behave and stop making such an annoying racket.

The plushie they were talking about was piled on the very top layer. Logically, it should have been easy to grab from that position. Even a bad player should not have failed to get it.

Standing before the machine, Xingye looked at the pink Gengar plushie, which was less than thirty centimeters tall.

He found that the little thing was wearing a pale blue dress, with a yellow bow decoration hanging from one ear. It had both hands clasped over its belly and a mischievous smile on its face.

"Wow, it's pretty cute..."

He was a little tempted. Who did not like adorable things? But he was only demonstrating whether the claw machine had a problem for these kids, so he decided against it.

He inserted two coins. With his superb technique, Xingye instantly locked onto the Gengar plushie and swiftly lowered the claw. Everything went as smoothly as flowing water!

"See? I told you, you just suck—"

Before he could finish, the Gengar plushie slipped off the claw without warning. The smug smile on his face froze. The one who sucked was actually him!

"Hahaha, I told you there was something wrong with it!"

"That's impossible. My claw machine skills are invincible! I must be too full from lunch!"

Xingye frowned deeply. He did not believe he had failed. He had checked this machine before, and its payout rate was normal, meaning there should not be a problem. How could it possibly drop the prize?

So he went to exchange for a few more coins and continued trying to grab the Gengar plushie. The exact same thing happened again. The claw inexplicably came up empty.

Seeing this, the kid from before immediately sneered, "Heh, stop trying. Your machines are obviously rigged. You're using shady tricks to scam us consumers."

"Yeah, yeah! Give us our money back!"

Listening to the other kids joining in, Xingye calmly replied, "It's been too long since I played. I'm out of practice. Next try... I'll definitely get it next try!"

"Gengar~"

Meanwhile, not far from the claw machine arcade, four girls in casual clothes were walking side by side through the shopping plaza.

If Xingye had paid even a little attention, he would have noticed that they were all his classmates...

Mallow, with her low twin tails and the tallest of the group, stood at the side and asked with a smile, "Class rep, what are you buying this time? I heard it might snow here next month. Are you buying winter clothes so you can go see the snow?"

Beside her, Selene held Rowlet in her arms and shook her head helplessly. "If I want to see snow, I can just go to Ula Ula Island. I'm buying ingredients for making potions, and maybe some underwear too..."

"Underwear? It seemed like you were buying that the last time we went shopping too..."

"They've gotten bigger again lately... Puberty is so annoying. I have to replace them every few months."

Hearing this, the petite Lana tilted her head, wearing a completely lifeless expression as she said, "Mine don't grow at all..."

Beside her, Lillie, who wore a dress and a very conspicuous white sunhat, also looked down at herself before quietly saying, "Mine... haven't really grown either."

"At least you're better off than me..."

Seeing the atmosphere suddenly turn a little strange, Mallow draped an arm around Selene's shoulders and asked in a sly tone with a quiet laugh, "Class rep, be honest. How are things going between you and Xiaoyang?"

"Huh?"

"Still playing dumb? Aren't you two dating?"

At those words, Selene's cheeks instantly turned slightly red. Then, with a faintly angry expression, she said, "When have I ever dated him? Don't spread rumors!"

"Come on~ Stop pretending and tell us already~"

"How am I supposed to talk about something that never happened?!"

As Lana and Mallow teased Selene together, Lillie was about to try and calm them down when her attention was suddenly drawn to a noisy group of children not far away.

Quite a few people were gathering around to watch the commotion. Mixed in among them was a particularly conspicuous Cyclizar, carrying several kids...

There were two more updates today.