No. 12 Morning at the lockup

“Get up!”
I was awakened by a loud voice. I was not aware whether I had slept or not. I felt the cold air. The upper window of the room was open.
“Good morning. Please give me guidance.”
I gave a salute in a small voice to my roommates who had been ahead of me. They began to fold up their futon. A man who looked beyond forty said to me, “Fold up yours!”
“Yes.”
“We do everything ourselves.”
“Yes.”
I quickly folded up my own futon. We carried our futon and got out of the room in turn to put it at the corner. Then I returned. Without thinking of what to do, I watched my roommates and followed them.
“Wash your face!”
We got out of the room and washed faces at the sink. I brought facial cleansing foam with me, but it was banned. So I borrowed soap. At the same time I brushed my teeth. After finishing all I returned to my cell again. Whenever we got out of the cell, some police officers watched us.
“Breakfast!”
From a little window of the cell, so-called Hinomaru-bento, rice and pickled Japanese apricot, and pickles, bean paste soup (miso soup, traditional Japanese soup) hot water were served on a rubber tray. We spread a sheet of straw mat on the floor, and put our trays on it. Our breakfast started. Maybe you know the scene in the recent film, “Still, I didn’t do it.”
However, I was not hungry. I felt no hunger as if my stomach was shrinking. Nevertheless, I ate miso soup, which was richly flavored against my expectations.After breakfast all were silent. I sat leaning against a wall and clasping my arms around my knees at a location nearest to the door.