I Became a Heavy Smoker in an Arcane Punk Romance Fantasy — Chapter 68: I Should Get Going Soon. I've Been Here Too Long

Human speech often contains multiple layers of meaning.

[Shall we hang out today?]

Although this simply says that we should go out and have fun, depending on when, where, and with whom we assume we're going to have fun, this simple sentence can take on several meanings.

In other words, it can be interpreted in various ways depending on the relationship between the speaker and me, the time, the nature of our relationship, and the speaker's tone.

What the chairman had just said.

[I can't tell you.]

[Especially not you.]

It was a sentence that could be taken as a simple, absolute refusal, but the chairman had continually shown me favor.

She had repeatedly expressed that she had no intention of building a hostile relationship with me by giving me an Artus cigar, a legend among cigar enthusiasts.

Rather, she had been so obvious that there was hardly any reason to suspect she had some strange ulterior motive...