With My Ability To Swap, I Will Never End Up In A Love Triangle Mess - Chapter 70

“So, let’s just say no next time a stranger tries to strike up a conversation, okay~?”

Lin Xuening sighed deeply in her mind.

Who’d have thought a simple stroll outside would lead to getting roped into taking ridiculous photos? Sure, there were plenty of nice shots too—creating a fun contrast—but she still couldn’t shake the frustration.

“Look at it this way—your social media account gained a ton of followers from this. Every cloud has a silver lining.”

Xia Xi walked into an arcade, buying tokens while trying to cheer Lin Xuening up.

“You guide me, I’ll operate. Let’s see how many we can win!”

When feeling down, playing claw machines was a great way to unwind… unless you couldn’t win anything.

Nothing was more rage-inducing than burning through hundreds of tokens without a single prize to show for it.

“I don’t really know how to play either. Back when I went with my roommates, they were the ones who played—I only tried occasionally.”

Lin Xuening wasn’t the type to visit these places alone. Whether shopping or hanging out, everything was just more fun with friends.

“Then what do we do? I already bought the tokens!”

Two hundred tokens—two or three per try, a hundred attempts. There was no way they’d walk away empty-handed, right?

“Maybe… just give it a shot?”

Lin Xuening was speechless. You don’t even know how to play, yet you dropped dozens on tokens? We could’ve bought cake instead!

“Alright, pick whichever plushie you like.”

Xia Xi wasn’t particularly into stuffed toys, and anything they won would belong to Lin Xuening anyway, so she might as well choose.

“That one! I want the pink starfish!”

Oh? SpongeBob and Patrick?

A classic comedy cartoon.

Clink, clink.

Two tokens dropped in.

A delicate, pale hand gripped the joystick, maneuvering the claw inside the machine.

Patrick, huh? You’re mine! Go, mechanical claw!

As the claw descended, both girls tensed up.

It effortlessly grabbed Patrick’s disproportionately large rear end, lifting him steadily toward the prize chute.

“Looks like my luck isn’t so ba—”

Just as the plushie neared the chute, the claw conveniently loosened. Patrick plummeted, smacking against the ledge before bouncing violently away.

“Ack!”

Rage.

It was right there!

The fury radiating from Lin Xuening’s body even reached Xia Xi’s original form—where a nurse administering an IV nearly jumped at the sight of his suddenly vein-popping arm.

The rookie nurse had chosen him for practice precisely because he always seemed spaced out and barely reacted to botched needle insertions. Other patients would’ve already been cursing her out by now.

Back to Lin Xuening.

The two claw machine novices had already blown over twenty tokens on that grinning idiot Patrick.

Every. Single. Time. The plushie would dangle tantalizingly close to the chute—only for the claw to go limp like a noodle and drop it.

“Maybe… we should try a different one?”

Lin Xuening felt her hand trembling uncontrollably—a clear sign of “Angel Sister’s” mounting fury—and quickly suggested a change of target.

Sure, claw machines had pity timers, but there was no point fixating on one prize, right?

Xia Xi took a deep breath at the sweet, soothing voice in her head, forcing herself to calm down.

It’s just a stupid game. We’re here to relax, to have fun… No raging…

After shooting Patrick one last death glare, Xia Xi scooped up their token box and marched toward a machine stocked with Cinnamoroll plushies.

“Sis! Sis! I want that one!”

A little girl’s voice piped up, followed by a gentle reply.

“Okay, okay~ Hold on, I’ll get it for you.”

A woman in a sleek pencil skirt and crisp white blouse—clearly the “sis”—led the girl over to the SpongeBob machine.

Clink.

The claw whirred to life…

First. Try. Win.

“Oops, sorry—got the pink starfish instead.”

The girl had wanted SpongeBob, but “sis” had snagged the very Patrick Lin Xuening had been fighting for. She patted the girl’s head apologetically.

“It’s okay! I love anything you win for me!”

…A heartwarming scene.

If you ignored the red-faced JK-uniformed girl silently combusting behind them.

“WHY… WHY?!”

Xia Xi felt her soul leaving her body.

The second she gave up, the next player hit the pity timer?! That plushie should’ve been hers!

Lin Xuening, meanwhile, was surprisingly zen. She was actually enjoying the process—the tension of watching the claw sway, the thrill of almost winning.

They say claw machines are addictive, and she was starting to get it. That rush of anticipation was no joke.

“It’s fine! Winning this Cinnamoroll would be great too.”

Xia Xi nodded, locking onto the machine’s adorable white dog with grim determination.

There was no way she’d leave without a single prize.

Go, mechanical claw! Attack that oversized head!

Yes! A perfect grip on Cinnamoroll’s giant noggin.

And then…

As if this were some arcade fighting game, two phantom “FAIL” signs materialized in the air, taunting her.

(Of course, that was just her imagination. Claw machines don’t mock you with words—they do it with their infuriatingly close near-wins and hope-crushing drops.)

Fail. Fail. Fail—

Xia Xi’s face darkened.

Dozens of tokens gone, and not one pity win. At this point, she was convinced the machine had a personal vendetta against her.

“Uh… Angel Sister? You okay? Maybe try for a smaller one?”

Those words reignited Xia Xi’s fighting spirit.

Heh. If big plushies are out of reach, a tiny one should be easy!

The result?

Xia Xi trudged toward the hospital, a takeout bag in one hand and a palm-sized “Hakumei” plush in the other, squeezing it grumpily.

“We spent so much money and only got this dinky thing… I’m so mad.”

“Relax~ Hakumei is cute too! I love it—thanks for winning it for me, Angel Sister.”

Wow. Class Prez Lin has a sweet side? When it came to Xia Xi, she was always so snarky… Hmph. Hypocrite!