No. 15 “Are you a member of Kakumaru?”

“No. 7, you are going to see the public prosecutor,” said the police officer. When someone is arrested by the police, the prosecutors question the arrestee and then decide if the case is billable. Once he or she is indicted, the prosecutors pursue conviction in the court. Only those who are excellent enough to pass the difficult bar examination can become the prosecutor. At that time I didn’t know what the prosecutor is. I hardly got interested in such things. My mind was broken up by shock of arrest and I was gripped by anxiety about my family.

Out of the cell I was handcuffed. The officer asked if my wrists pain me. After that every time he cuffed me, I was asked the same question. Tying a string around my waist, I was taken out of the police station. I saw three men in suits waiting. They were different people from those who had searched my house on the previous day. The police officer took a back seat of a car with me holding the end of my string in his hand. I was sandwiched between him and one of the men. One of other two was a driver.

The car started. One of the men asked me, “Did you sleep well last night?”
“No. Not enough.”
“Did you eat meals?”
“No.”
I got angry to hear that. I had been confused to be arrested before my loved ones. I didn’t know what was what. Don’t talk nonsense! I don’t see why I can eat.

The car went down into the basement of a building. We got off the car at the parking. We took the lift, but I didn’t remember what story we went up to.

I was called. I entered the big room with a sofa set, planters and bookshelves. I saw buildings out of the window. The room was quite different from the interrogation room of the police station where I had been questioned the day earlier. I saw the prosecutor and another man in the room. I was said to sit down in front of the prosecutor.
“I am N., a prosecutor.” He added, “Are you a member of the Kakumaru faction?”

15 Mar. 2008