Mai Natsume

Mai Natsume is the main character of the manga BlazBlue: Remix Heart. She was also part of the Duodecim noble family. Mai is currently the Intermediary Grimoire and the vessel of the No-Name Grimoire. She later made an appearance in BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend.

Information
Mai was the next heir of the Hazuki Family. One month prior to the events of Remix Heart, he somehow ended up as a girl and tried to turn back using various Grimoires, but without success.

Remix Heart
Mai comes to the Military Academy for the first time on the day with the Ars Armagus assessment, claiming to have just returned from the hospital. Her assessment failed due to the Grimoire used for measurement short-circuiting, but she made friends with Noel Vermillion, Tsubaki Yayoi, Makoto Nanaya and her eccentric roommate Cajun Faycott.

On the same day, she comes to know about Noel's death cooking, which is said to cause whoever ate it to wander between life and death. Despite the warnings from both Makoto and Tsubaki, Mai volunteers to eat Noel's dish so she would not be upset. She somehow survives and even enjoys it, calling it a godly dish, but her roommate Cajun was knocked out instantly. After bringing Cajun back to her room, she reveals that her tongue, which is super sensitive to taste, was what enabled her to eat Noel's cooking, though it prevents her from eating normal food. Listening to her story, Noel, Tsubaki, Makoto, and Cajun promises to find a way to cure her supertaster ability. They decided to throw a pajama party afterwards, but Mai fainted after looking at everyone else's naked bodies in the bath.

A few weeks later, the Torifune Festival comes. Jin Kisaragi wins as the Izanagi of the festival after a rock, paper, scissors game, causing Tsubaki to decide to join to become Izanami to be near him. Since there is no certain way to win a game of luck, Mai is asked to use her supertaster sense to read the minds of the girls in the next day's tournament by kissing them so that Cajun could deduce their thought pattern. Their plan succeeded, but Tsubaki found out afterwards. Mai apologizes to her, but Tsubaki thanks her and tells her not to do it again.

Eating watermelons with her friends, Mai was unable to join in because of her supertaste, leading the group to offer to go down the lower levels of the Academy, to Mai's obvious gratitude. However, thanks to Noel, the group ended up lost in the eighth level, and were attacked by a thick smog of seithr, scaring them into seeking refuge at a nearby abandoned mansion. The resulting fog mutated a watermelon seed that Noel had swallowed earlier, causing it to grow out of her navel and attack everyone present. Mai struggled to help them as her typical teenage male attitude took over, claiming that she couldn't avert her eyes from their lifted skirts. She eventually managed to avert her eyes, and saved all of them, save Noel who was still held as the host of the parasitic plant. They chased the both of them down the hallway, and found that it had arrived at the location of the long-lost Evolution Grimoire. Bravely, Mai found a rapier and main gauche hung upon the wall, and took them down to cut down the tentacles and a watermelon that had rapidly sprouted out from Noel, then tasting said fruit in order to understand why it was attacking. She found her answer, telling everyone that the watermelon wished to become a melon, and believed it needed the Evolution Grimoire in order to do so. Mai was overjoyed when Cajun told her that a possible method to cure her supertaste is by finding more hidden Grimoire's within Torifune, and that even the legendary Azure Grimoire may be laying in wait deep within the school grounds.

Later on, Mai was tricked by Cajun into believing that all females had to wears maid's outfit for clean up duty. Mai and her friends were then assigned by Estella McKenzie to clean her room. As the group cleaned up Estella's room, Mai's true identify was almost revealed when she touched the Ammit Cryas Grimoire. However, her former self was not shown clearly, appearing only as a black figure when she quickly pulled it onto the table without the members knowing who it was.

During the Torifune festival, she slowly started to accept her new life as a female instead of finding a way to change back into her original gender, since her previous life was only being a puppet to the heir.

The next challenge for Team Remix Heart was to find the Conversion Grimoire in the desert, but Makoto got caught in an ant lion pit after she saved Noel, and Mai tried to save her by using her own bra and T-shirt as a rope to pull her out. Then, suddenly, a Guardian of the Azure Grimoire appeared to congratulate them. As the Guardian presented the Team Remix Heart with the task of choosing between the Conversion Grimoire or the Azure Grimoire, Mai decided to choose the Conversion Grimoire instead of the Azure Grimoire, which turned out to be a fake. After they made it back to safety, Akane tells them they are at lowest rank, but Jin congratulates them, since they were the only team who brought a grimoire (the other teams brought junk, according to him), so he will give Team Remix Heart the title of MVP for the sports festival.

The weather control regulator of Torifune began to malfunction, forcing everyone to start wearing thicker clothing. Making her way through the grounds with Makoto, Noel, and Cajun, Mai slipped and was helped up by the newly arrived Tsubaki. Unfortunately, she was caught in the snowball of students that was caused by Taro Sasagae, and was launched onto a faraway beach after rebounding off of Akane Teruhito's freshly made snow hut. Amazed that Torifune has so many different locations, Mai lathered herself with Cajun's Golden Angel, being given a temporary swimsuit. She tasted the Regulation Grimoire, finding that the Grimoire had little of the power it had before, leading her and the rest of the group to help it out by collecting pictures of the emotions jotted down in its page. Thankfully, the group were picked up by an aircraft requested by Jin.

In the library, Mai encountered an object in the shape of a picture book. As she touched it, she got a cut in her finger. Instinctively placing it into her mouth, she tasted her blood and, due to her supertaster ability, her mind got transferred into the book-like object called the Hypnagogia Grimoire. As Mai goes through the pages, she almost manages to reach the end. However, in their desperate efforts to save her, the pages got corrupted by Team Remix Heart. Mai ended up in a blank page, where her "father" stood, but he proceeded to call her worthless because of becoming a woman, and stated he does not need her anymore. Shocked and heartbroken by her "father's" words, Mai started suffering because of thinking of not being needed anymore. Sometime later, she encounters her friend's future selves, and notices how they are killing each other for her sake, which makes her suffer more. Mai stopped them, and told them how she really felt about them; that they are very important to her and she loved them. Suddenly, Mai saw Tsubaki and Noel's future and true selves as Izayoi and μ-No.12-, respectively, until waking up and seeing everyone at her side. Mai wonders if it is okay to tell them the truth, fearing that if she does, Team Remix Heart will be broken up.

The next day, Mai starts to recall the current events, and starts wondering if her friends would still accept her, should she ever tell them the truth. Suddenly, Mai falls in a hole, dropping Noel's cooking in the process. She wakes up in the school, now having lost her memories of the school and her friends. Mai seems to start remembering her life in the Hazuki family. She started wondering if Cajun and her are lovers due to sharing the same room, unknowingly revealing her secret; luckily, however, no one believed her, thinking it to be a side effect of her amnesia. Suddenly, when she tasted her tears, she started to remember her friends' names; with this, her friends decide to help her by making her taste their tears, but Cajun refuses to cry. At night, Mai recalls when she entered the academy, and the events that happened to her. When Cajun finally cried and Mai tasted her tears, she returned to her normal self; after being questioned by Cajun about being either a man or a woman, Mai replied to Cajun that she was a girl. Later, both are seen sleeping together.

Later, Mai and the others decide to go to the ninth level to search for the powerful Grimoire that can cure Mai's super taste. However, Team Remix Heart has to go through a trial and figure out how to use all the Grimoires they had found so far in order to pass. After they pass, the ground begins to crumble, and Mai gets separated from them, ending up in an unknown level, where she encounters Ragna. Mai explains she needs to find the Azure Grimoire, but does not tell him the truth, only stating she needs it to protect her friends. When arriving at the location, she is asked by two unnamed female guardians to save Elina's soul from the Adsequi Grimoire. As Mai tried to save her, suddenly she tasted a flower petal, revealing that the First's lover was inside, and decided to kiss her so as to make her taste the flower. Realizing her lover was always with her, she became free and, with overflowing happiness, joined him in the afterlife. After that, she is reunited with her friends, and they go back to the academy to eat snacks. However, when Mai tasted Noel's cooking, she started to choke, and began to feel pain in her chest.

Five days later, she finally regains consciousness and no longer feels any pain, but Cajun explains to her that she has the Azure Grimoire inside of her, since she kissed the Adsequi Grimoire in order to save Elina. When her friends suggest that she kiss one of them if she no longer has her super taste, she flustered and runs out of her room. As she continues to run away, she accidentally kisses Taro Sasagae by mistake. However, their conservation was cut short as Mai continued to run away until she found a place to catch her breath. Her friends later managed to find her, explaining that her super taste is not cured, but evolved. She can now copy from something she has eaten/kissed to someone who she kisses, but can't use the ability she copies, thus turning herself into an Intermediary Grimoire. At the end of the day, the members of Team Remix Heart are seen bathing together.

As Tsubaki hurried to warn Jin about the effect of Taro's cooking, they encounter Shiori Kirihito and Chachakaka, two assassins sent by the Hazuki family to spy on Jin. Mai remembers that the Kirihito family is one of assassins, but she thinks that Shiori may not be a professional killer because of her frail body. After Team Remix Heart decides to look after Jin and others, Mai goes to tell Noel about it, and the two meet Shiori again. Mai recognizes the smell of poison, and she has the bad feeling that Shiori is going to assassinate Jin. When girls decided to cook porridge, Shiori recommended rare medicinal herbs, but Mai was afraid that those herbs were poisonous. She tastes Noel's medicine herb porridge to make sure that it is not poisoned. After she tasted it, nothing happened, but she thought that it would take time for the poison to proceed. As Team Remix Heart (except Noel) re-visit Jin and others to feed them, Mai still can't get over from her accidental kiss with Taro; the more she thinks about it, the more she flushes. After that, Team Remix Heart heard a loud explosion in the dorms where Jin and others are and hurry there to make sure they are alright. As they arrive, Jin, Akane, and Taro's room is covered in block of ice caused by Jin who, under the influence of his Nox Nyctores, Yukianesa, thought that he must destroy the "Dark One". Suddenly, Mai was attacked by Jin, who thought she was Ragna. As Mai panicked, she heard a male voice that directed her to go straight ahead to the school yard, where Jin followed her. There, Mai was saved by Taro from Jin's ice attacks, Noel used her Nox Nyctores, Bolverk to distract Jin, and Taro managed to bind Jin until an alchemist professor, Seifer Albar, calmed Jin with an unknown ability. Mai then realized that it was his voice she heard in her head.

The next day, after she had a conference with Taro, she was captured by Shiori and Chachakaka. After she learned their plan, she broke free and fought Chachakaka. Then Mai went after Shiori, but after she saw the latter had accidentally poisoned herself, she decided to suck out the poison. Thanks to her ability, Mai saw Shiori's childhood and understood that how she felt, as it was similar to her own past. Mai comforted and embraced Shiori until she let out her true feelings. The following day, Mai woke up, finding out that Shiori had slept next to her. Mai was shocked as Shiori revealed that her objective to kill Jin hadn't changed.

During summer, Mai and her friends are eating lunch together when Makoto sees Carl Clover. She calls him to join them in devouring their lunch. Mai notices that he is part of the Elementary Division, and then Carl introduces himself to Mai, Cajun, and Shiori. When Noel offers up her cookies to him, the others immediately stopped him in his tracks, forewarning him of the catastrophe to follow; Mai quickly cheers up Noel by offering to swiftly eat them all. Carl remarks that Mai's smile and personality is akin to that as his sister, and says that he loves her. Mai suddenly remembers her father, and says that she doesn't have any siblings, but she is sure her love for her friends is the same as Carl's love for his sister. Shiori, quickly, loudly, and boldly declares that her love for Mai is million times more than what anyone else could achieve, a statement that made Mai instantly blush.

Later on, her friends are noticing that her reactions towards Taro are certainly those of a girl in love, which she quickly denies by dismissing it just as respect. She then remembers that when she was in the Hazuki family, she was forbidden to fall in love, and since she was a man, there was no way Taro would interested in her. Homever, her friends said it was too early to give up and then decided to set Mai on a date with Taro. Mai then prepares for her date with Taro, with her friends (except Shiori) helping her. However, the fated day, Taro didn't come at all, making her friends angry, and goes to search for him. Suddenly, Chachakaka comes and says that she was sent by Mai's father; she was sent to tell her that he doesn't need her anymore since she become a woman. Chachakaka then attacks her.

With the power of the Intemediary Grimoire, Mai can see Chachakaka's movement and dogdes her blows. Chachakaka quickly surrenders, saying that she can't beat Mai even at her full power. Mai then asks if Shiori knows about her true identity. Chachakaka answers that she's doesn't know, and explains that the ones who sent Shiori to assassinate Jin were not from the Hazuki family; ironically, they were hired by the Kisaragi family, and warned Mai that there were a lot of assassins already sent besides Shiori. Mai was shocked by this fact, and realized the reason why Taro was desperate to protect Jin. Chachakaka then leaves Mai, saying she wants to take a nap, which makes Mai wonder if all Kaka are always carefree like her. Suddenly, Relius Clover and Ignis appeared before her, saying that her soul is quite intriguing. Then, he takes his leave saying that he likes to see her soul's growth. After he leaves, Mai wondered how he could tell that she was a man by just looking at her.

Afterward, Taro finally comes and apologizes to Mai because he was late. Taro notices that Mai's uniform is dirty and has some bruises, making Mai realize it herself and feel bad for her friends because their efforts from the past day had become waste. Suddenly, Taro purposely dropped himself to the ground and turned to see Mai, saying that they will match while smiling, which makes Mai blush. When she was going to answer, her friends came back and angrily asked him why he's late. She then remembers what her friends said about her feelings towards Taro, and realized she may really be in love with him, although she denied it due to being originally male.

The following day, Mai was suddenly attacked by one of Seifer's experiments due to attract by the grimoire inside of her, but then she was saved by Seifer. Even though she didn't know how to explain her sitution to him, she was glad Seifer was willing to help her, without realizing that Seifer's true self and plan was to manipulate her to get closer to the Azure. He gave her a device which would constantly monitor her and her own body.

The following day, Mai and the rest of Team Remix Heart underwent mandatory survival training, being told to venture into the woods in groups of three, and defeat the Mountain Beast Jellyfish that lay in wait. Teamed with Shiori and Cajun, Mai ventured deep into the forest, where they showed confidence that they could best the team of Noel, Makoto, and Tsubaki. Having traveled some distance into the forest, the group encountered the Jellyfish's legs, and attempted to battle them with little luck since the beast had overheard their plan to use Shiori's knowledge of poisons as a counterattack. With little other choice, Mai used her supertaste ability to find out the poison of the beast, then kissing Shiori to pass on the information. It was at this point that the other half of Team Remix Heart arrived, exclaiming that they had found the body of the monster. Noel, Makoto, and Tsubaki were knocked aside by the beast, awakening Azure fragments within Mai's body - she went into an immediate frenzy, attacking the monster relentlessly until it was felled. The combined efforts of the team were congratulated by Estella, who gave them all passing marks for working together as a team. Moments later, Mai writhed in pain and was put onto an infirmary bed.

Alone with Seifer in the room, he revealed his malicious plan to fuse the Azure fragments with her heart, and how he will feast upon it to become a body of Azure itself. She was placed into the middle of an Alchemy made circle, being entirely unconscious for the entire ordeal. Meanwhile, Chachakaka revealed Mai's existence as male using the Ammit Cryas, revealing it to Team Remix Heart, and Estella. Inside her own consciousness, Mai interacted with the No-Name Grimoire, revealing that she desired the power to fight, fusing with the Grimoire, which in turn, broke the alchemy seal placed on her by Seifer. Now fused with the Grimoire, Mai became the first host of a Remix Heart - the true combination of a Grimoire and a human being.

Waking up from her slumber, Mai stormed to the alchemy barrier that held her and the group in place, shattering said barrier once she realized it would crush them. She shouted at Seifer, warning him that she would never forgive him. Having enough with the man's petty insults, and preventing Makoto from going to attack him, Mai aimed a savage kick towards Seifer's back, but was stunned that he effortlessly blocked it with his alchemy. Dodging his counterattack, Mai summoned a sword and parrying dagger to combat the alchemist, despite his cold words and endless barrage of spears; miraculously, Mai managed to stop Seifer from taking her Remix Heart. She felt beaten, however, but was reassured by her team, giving her the courage to strike Seifer with all the force she could muster; this was not enough, and Mai was teleported to the basement of Torifune - to the Cauldron.

Thankfully for Mai, Shiori pursued her and Seifer, but the intense atmosphere of the Cauldron gave the young woman a splitting headache. The situation worsened as Seifer revealed his master plan to sacrifice the entirety of the Military Academy in order to make the Burning Red, leading Mai to attack him in retaliation, but the combined efforts of her and Shiori failed to land a scratch on the lecturer. The man's strongest attack began to form, leaving Mai with the knowledge that she wouldn't be able to avoid such an attack - tragically, Shiori took the blow instead, sharing her supposed last words with the woman she loves. It was at this point that Mai tried to emotionally connect with Seifer, but he was too mentally and emotionally unstable to interact with, and had her Remix Heart taken from her as a subsequent result. Despite her thorough beating, Mai managed to splutter out pleas for Seifer to stop, but she was knocked out by his incomplete control of his incomplete Grimoire.

Mai eventually recovered, and reunited with Team Remix Heart atop a hill sometime later. They returned to their hectic antics, but Mai believed that the team would disband, however, she was silenced as everyone remarked that they would still search for a cure for her supertaste. Realising she was not alone anymore, Mai thanked them all.

Chronophantasma
Noel mentioned about Mai during a conversation with Makoto about their old academy days after hearing Jin's old nickname, JinJin, which Taro used all the time. Makoto then revealed that after graduating, Mai went missing.

Personality
Mai is shown to have a sheltered and timid personality. She feels insecure being around girls and is greatly embarrassed to see naked female bodies to the extent of her having to pass out. However, she appears to be a good person at heart, agreeing to eat Noel's cooking despite her warnings her friends gave her and is willing to help them if needed. After she accidentally kissed Taro, she started to feel nervous around him and showing signs of love, becoming a bit of a tsundere towards him without Taro noticing. She even doesn't know why she have this feeling for him despite the fact she's actually male.

Unknown to her friends, when Mai was a man, she used to be more silent and aloof due to the pressure of being the next head of a Duodecim family. She stated that she had been like a puppet, living a life with only uneventful days. The change from the fake life to the new life full of radiance with team Remix Heart has caused her personality to shift, beginning to stop feeling insecure about being a girl and started to accept her new life. In later chapters she also shows more acceptance towards physical contact with her friends, only looking slightly annoyed when Noel runs into her, and even going as far as to sleep together with Cajun, in contrast to her previous behavior.

When she had amnesia, she reverted to her original personality almost entirely, still thinking she was a man. In this state, she acted very boyish, and stated that she had no friends. When her memory returns it's very clear that her mind is mostly that of a woman by this point.

It is worth noting that she refers to herself with the gender-neutral "watashi" as opposed to the masculine "boku" or "ore", even in her own thoughts. Also to note is that she uses "boku" while her memory is lost, indicating that her way of thinking indeed has become much more feminine after turning into a girl.

Carl had commented that Mai's personality is similar to his sister, Ada.

Appearance
Mai is a young woman with pink eyes and aqua blue hair, tied into a waist-length pony tail by a yellow ribbon; she also has twin ahoge and a fairly above-average bust. She also has a small scar on her back, and she wears pink lipstick. When accessing the powers of the No-Name Grimoire, Mai's pupils shape into white rectangles.

She wears the standard blue and white uniform of the Military, accompanied by medium length black stockings and white shoes with yellow outline.

During the sport festival, she wears her hair down with her ribbon as a hairband, and a standard P.E. uniform with a plain white T-shirt.

The Golden Angel gel turned into a thin, stripy two-piece light and dark blue bikini with yellow straps and rims. The top part was decorated with yellow ribbons. When the weather control was broken in Torifune, Mai wrapped herself up with an orange and green scarf; she also wore red woolen panties with a bow.

When participating in the survival training, Mai wore a low cut black tank top with a short-sleeved jacket, emblazoned with the Academy's insignia. The top was tucked into normal short shorts held together by a pocket belt. Black thigh-length socks and military boots finished the look off.

In her past when she was male, she had long hair tied in a ponytail in an identical manner to how she wears her hair when she's female, with the only notable difference being that she wore no ribbon. Mai wore formal clothes, as expected by a Duodecim member; examples include a white collar shirt accompanied with a white scarf, a dark vest, and black formal jeans.

Powers and Abilities
Mai's aptitude for Ars Armagus is unclear, as the grimoire used for assessment short-circuited when it tried to measure her abilities.

In terms of physical abilities however, she is a supertaster, who experiences the sense of taste with far greater intensity than average, though her ability far surpasses any ordinary supertaster. She claims that her tongue is so sensitive that she can even perceive the thoughts of the food when they were still alive. The thoughts of the one who made the food can also be perceived, which is why she is not only able to "survive" Noel's infamous death cooking, but also calls it a godly dish because Noel's single-mindedness in cooking only leaves her innocence within the food. After saving the First from grimoire in the tenth level, she has a surge from the Azure Grimoire inside her body after kissing the Adsequi Grimoire, which happens to have the same Azure surge. Due to that, her super taste evolved into an intermediary ability – she can copy someone else's abilities when she kisses someone on the lips, but she can't use the ability herself, instead transferring it to someone else.

Mai is shown as being skilled at fighting with a rapier and a main gauche.

During her fight with Chachakaka and Shiori, it was revealed that Mai fights using the Kirihito family's assassination techniques.

In Chapter 22, Mai's grimoire revealed to be the "Nameless Grimoire" or "NoName". The grimoire is also responsible for change genders as the vessel has to be female. After Mai wanted the power to protect her friends, she fused with NoName an act that has granted her the power to create a sword and a dagger out of thin air.