Page 12 of Sixty Meters Under
When they walked out the glass door, Hugo informed them, “Now we’re going to see the level with food production.” They stopped in front of the elevator door and waited for it to open.
They passed another hallway and entered a spacious hall. “Here we have a variety of different seeds stored that we’ll plant in this special irrigated area.” Hugo pointed to a section that was secluded and contained soil, then added, “And there on the left is a water tank for growing fish.”
They walked a circle through the sections and then proceeded to see the next level. Hugo pressed number twelve.
Until that point, Ryosuke had barely uttered a word, but the moment they stepped into the library, he gasped. Seeing the books stacked on the wooden shelves all around the room and sensing that familiar smell took his breath away. He had been impressed with the whole place, though he tried not to show it, but this time he couldn’t suppress his emotions.
“Do you like it?” Ayame asked, with a hopeful smile. When Ryosuke didn’t reply, she turned to Hugo and said, “Ryosuke likes to read, so I believe he is impressed with this room.”
“Yeah, this place is amazing,” Ryosuke finally spoke up. When he looked closer, he noticed the shelves were made of dark mahogany wood. And almost every corner of the room was covered with them holding books.
“Here we have about thirty thousand titles,” Hugo specified.
Ayame’s eyes widened, and she nodded impressed.
Seeing this place, Ryosuke imagined that this would be the corner of the bunker he would spend most of his time in. If they got a room here.
There were a few reading nooks in the middle, also made from wood, with shelves holding more books. Ryosuke looked around, barely resisting the urge to start looking through the titles as if he were in a public library and forgetting the whole bunker-hiding-surviving-the-apocalypse thing.
The library had no false windows, but the lamps illuminated every corner, balanced and soothing. Ryosuke even felt a little sad when they had to close the door behind them and proceed to the next room.
Adjacent to the library was the fitness center. There were several exercise machines, and also enough space to simply do aerobic exercises without equipment. Ryosuke was glad that he would have a place to practice his martial arts, though it wouldn’t be as compelling since there probably wouldn’t be an experienced trainer.
“This is so cool!” Ayame’s eyes shone as she saw all the exercise equipment.
The training room was also painted white and lit by small lights that were scattered across the ceiling. On the left side of the room was a huge wall of mirrors which were lined up so tightly next to each other that they looked like one huge mirror.
The more Ryosuke saw of it, the more he liked it. The idea of buying a room in this bunker didn’t seem that bad to Ryosuke anymore. But he wasn’t willing to admit it, at least not yet.
“And finally, we will visit the pool and cinema,” Ryosuke heard the older man speak, realizing he hadn’t even heard what he and his fiancé were talking about. During most of the tour he had been immersed in his own thoughts, barely listening to them. He started out confident that he could convince Ayame not to buy the room; now he didn’t know what to think.
They soon found themselves on the thirteenth level. When the elevator door opened, they went out into a small corridor and passed through a glass door that also opened automatically.
“Oh!” Ayame gasped in awe, pressing her hand to her lips, and Ryosuke looked around wide eyed.
There was a long swimming pool with crystal clear water, and LCD screens on the far wall, imitating large glass windows with a stunning view.
It looks so real,was Ryosuke’s first thought. It was real, except that it was underground, and that part was hard to process. It was messing with his head.
“This is simply amazing!” Ayame stated happily. “I want us to buy a room now even more than before!”
Dammit.Ryosuke wished he could protest, but he couldn’t.
“What do you think, honey? Isn’t this place perfect?”
“It is. But we will have to send in the official request first, and be approved, right?”
“That’s right. That is the procedure, and we do not make exceptions,” Hugo confirmed.
“Oh, right. I almost forgot about that!” Ayame laughed, feeling a little bit embarrassed.
“That’s fine. The sooner you fill it and send it to us, the sooner you’ll get your answer.”
They entered the elevator for the last time and rode to the top. Hugo accompanied them to see them off.
“Thank you, Mr. Hansson.” Ayame shook the man’s hand and bowed.
“Thank you for your interest in this bunker.” Hugo bowed too.
