Arcane: The Gods Want Me to Pick a Route-Chapter 182: A Family of Three (EC)

"Hello? Hello? Hello?"

Logan spoke cautiously toward the dialogue box. Honestly… he thought the whole setup was kind of stupid. Couldn't it just let him talk to Ahri directly? Why did a blue dialogue box have to pop up in his head, and why did he have to press buttons on it just to speak to her?

But that was how the system worked, so Logan could only accept it.

The next moment, Ahri's voice rang out in his mind—surprised and delighted.

"Logan, how did you do this? You—you're not in Spirit Blossom. You're in the physical realm and you can still talk to me?"

Hearing Ahri's voice, Logan smiled. He pressed the dialogue box again and said, "Yeah. I'm back in Zaun now. Just treat this as a new ability of mine. From now on, I can talk to you whenever I want… although it seems kind of one-way."

"One-way? What do you mean?"

Logan replied, "It means only I can reach out to you. You can't reach out to me."

To Logan, this "new feature" felt like something out of a mobile MMO—like one of those phone RPGs he used to play, the kind that later got rebranded after some licensing drama.

Most mobile online games were basically built from the same template anyway. And for Logan, the moment he got his hands on it, he immediately understood how to use it.

The funny part was, in Spirit Blossom, he was the only "player." Everyone else—spirits, gods, powerful souls—were basically "NPCs."

"Then you can come chat with me every day from now on?" Ahri said brightly.

Logan froze for a second, an image of the little fox bouncing in place flashing through his head. Then he said, amused, "Are you forgetting something? Time flows differently between our worlds. One day for me is more than ten days for you."

"Right… but that's fine. Then you can talk to me once every ten days or so. Oh—Logan, what about my gifts?"

"Gifts will have to wait until next time. You can tell me what you want first, and ask Kindred what they want too. Then I'll bring everything in at once when I visit." Logan answered.

He glanced at the interface and noticed Ahri's affinity had gone up again—now at 605.

So… just talking to Ahri every day and keeping in touch increased affinity?

Yeah. That made it feel even more like a game mechanic—because in games, besides giving gifts to the character you're trying to win over, the other method was doing a daily greeting that gave a small affinity boost.

"Then I need to think carefully," Ahri said with a giggle.

Logan kept chatting with her for a while. After testing a few more times, he realized there was no daily limit to how many messages he could send. In other words, as long as Logan wanted, he could talk to Ahri whenever he felt like it. Whether she replied… that depended on Ahri.

But with Ahri's personality, she probably wouldn't get annoyed. Logan could tell she was painfully bored in Spirit Blossom.

He cut the connection, then looked down at the small face that had inched closer and closer. He leaned forward and gave Jinx a quick peck on her smooth cheek.

"What are you looking at me for?"

Jinx rubbed her cheek and huffed, irritated. "Were you talking to that fox again?"

"Any time you zone out, there's like an eighty percent chance you went to that world. Admit it—did you just go to that world again?" Jinx was sharp. She'd seen Logan freeze up for a few seconds, and that was more than enough for her to be sure.

Logan had gone to see that shameless fox again.

"When are you going to stop being so jealous?" Logan sighed. He reached out and lightly tapped the center of Jinx's forehead, pushing her head back a little. Then he took the bag from her hand—he was carrying a ridiculous mountain of snacks now—and lifted his arm.

Jinx immediately hooked both hands around his arm out of habit, grumbling under her breath with an aggrieved look.

She really was the jealous type. It came from how insecure she used to be. Things were getting better now, but that trait was still part of her. There was no way she was changing it.

If she didn't act bratty and shameless, would she even be Jinx?

Rules. Manners. Those words weren't even in Jinx's dictionary.

———

"Isha! Your sister's back!"

The moment they reached the door, Jinx rushed in ahead of Logan. She kicked the door open, planted her hands on her hips, and yelled at the top of her lungs.

Logan leaned in to look, and saw Isha sitting in the living room under the lights, doing homework.

Half a year had passed, and Isha had gotten taller again. Her hair was still fluffy, but longer now—naturally curly, and no matter how she tried to fix it, it always looked messy. So Isha still looked like a scruffy little puppy.

Her eyes went wide, her mouth popping open in surprise. Her expression was adorable, showing a row of small white teeth.

Good. She was past the stage of losing teeth now.

Isha froze for a beat—then let out a squeal, threw her pencil aside, and dashed toward Jinx barefoot.

The little gremlin charged straight into her like a battering ram.

"Hey! Are you trying to kill me?!" Jinx bent down and hugged her. At around four-foot-seven, the kid wasn't much shorter than Jinx anymore. But Jinx was strong, so lifting Isha wasn't hard.

Isha buried her face into Jinx's neck and breathed her in like she was trying to steal her scent. Her arms locked tight around Jinx's back.

Jinx had been about to tease her, but Isha was trembling in her arms—shaking from pure excitement.

Seeing that, Jinx swallowed the joke. Instead, she patted Isha's back, her expression softening as she murmured, "Okay. I'm back. See?"

"I told Logan—next time we're going away for a long time, we'll take you with us."

Isha made an insistent little sound, lifted her head, and stuck out her hand at Jinx—pinky raised.

"I can't exactly spare a hand to pinky swear right now." Jinx rolled her eyes.

From the side, Logan set the bags down and offered his hand.

"I'll pinky swear with you," Logan said with a smile, standing behind Jinx and leaning closer.

Isha looked at Logan, and the joy in her eyes only grew. She stretched her arm as far as she could and hooked her pinky around Logan's.

She kept babbling insistently, acting like she was laying down a serious law.

Logan looked at Jinx.

Jinx held Isha and said with a solemn face, "She says that after a pinky promise, you can't lie. If you break it, you'll have to eat a thousand needles."

"She just made a couple noises—she said all that?" Logan stared at Jinx, speechless.

Jinx snickered and didn't bother explaining. Isha's "translator" was Jinx, and Jinx could translate it however she wanted.

Logan reached out and ruffled Isha's fluffy hair. The soft, puffy texture felt amazing. After he messed it up a bit, Isha started squirming in Jinx's arms—then reached both hands toward Logan.

Logan blinked, then happily lifted her up, taking her from Jinx. He lowered his head and pressed his cheek against hers affectionately.

Honestly…

After coming to this world, the first person Logan met was Jinx. The second was Isha. To Logan, Isha had long since become someone he couldn't imagine living without.

A little sister… and also, in some ways, like a daughter.

And Isha, in Logan's arms, leaned in and planted an exaggerated, forceful kiss on the side of his face—leaving a tiny wet mark and a faint little imprint.

"You kiss him but not me?!" Jinx shrieked beside them.

"You're jealous of Isha now too?" Logan laughed.

Jinx yelped, then lunged in with claws out, grabbing Isha around the waist as she tried to yank her back from Logan. "I'm jealous of both of you!"

Back then, Powder would blow everything up.

Now Jinx would eat every last ounce of jealousy.

"I'm your sister!"

Jinx tried to steal her. Logan refused to let go, holding Isha too.

Caught between them, Isha burst into laughter, giggling nonstop as they tugged her back and forth.

While Logan and Jinx were gone, Isha hadn't been miserable.

Vi and Caitlyn visited her every day. Silco dropped by sometimes too. She had plenty of friends her own age now, so her days were happy—but still… she got lonely when Logan and Jinx weren't around.

But now they were both back.

Isha kissed Logan's cheek once, then turned and kissed Jinx's cheek too.

She was so happy she could barely contain it.

And Logan was happy to roughhouse with Isha and Jinx. He really, truly loved this feeling.

Zaun was Logan's home.

But the place that was truly his home was right here—this small space, because of the two people in front of him.

They were a family of three.

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