[INTERLUDE] Messy Clothes Equal Messy Mind

Snippets from Kaguya's childhood.

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The only son of Hazama Takeo and his wife Mitsuki was an interesting child.

Among all the servants working for the household in this period, no one wasn't the least bit amused by little Kaguya's habits and preferences. Even at a young age, the boy fussed about his appearance to the point of hilarity: he would play in sand pits only if he didn't get any sand on him, and once was near hysterical after he overslept just a little and didn't have time to brush his hair as nicely as he liked before school. "Messy clothes equal messy mind; mummy said so," he would say, much to the amusement of his parents and the housekeepers.

Most interesting of all was the little botchan's fascination with cosmetics. It was said of utmost importance in working for the Hazama household in this period was not food preparation, cleaning the spacious rooms or maintaining the couple's expensive kimonos, but making sure Kaguya didn't get too close to his mother's makeup table. Mitsuki had laid out one rule: as long as she was right by to supervise, her son was free to experiment to his heart's content with any cake of blush or tube of lip gloss he felt like reaching for.

"Don't you think he's a bit too unique?" Takeo once said jokingly as he watched his wife and son in front of the vanity. "For a boy, he does sit in front of a mirror and slather makeup on his face a lot."

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Mitsuki said. "Beauty care is like painting; it needs lots of patience, attention to detail and a good taste in aesthetics. Those are skills I wouldn't mind his having."

The couple laughed, while Kaguya tickled his own cheeks with a brush.

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"Heaven creates no man above man and no man below man," Takeo said to his six-year-old son. "That is not to say society has no order; there has always been and will always be those of higher station and those lower. The Prime Minister is higher than a common citizen, a teacher is higher than a student. I am a 'man above man' compared to our housekeepers and the staff at my hotel. You can also be said to be a 'man above man' among kids your age; you were born into a rich family, you live in a nicer house than your classmates, you'll never have to worry about hunting for a job when you get older.

"However, being above man doesn't mean being above man. No one is special because of where he stands in life; king or commoner, rich or poor, everyone is human under the heaven. Being of a higher station doesn't make one always right, or exempt from the duty of respect towards fellow man. Even if you're more fortunate than your friends, you don't have the right to bully them or believe you deserve special treatment. Tyrants, those thinking their positions allow them to trample over fellow man and demand unquestioning obedience and reverence, are the worst of scums.

This is the reason why I've decided to let you study tea ceremony. One of its four core tenets is respect; no matter where you are in society, respect is tantamount. Taking to heart the lesson of respect towards everyone is how you become a good 'man above man'."

It was a lesson Kaguya never forgot.