Like her twin sister Maki Zenin, Mai was mistreated by the Zenin clan growing up only for being a girl with little talent for jujutsu. Mai was content with living under their thumb as a servant and would rather do chores than fight. In contrast, Maki wanted to spite the clan and work as a sorcerer. The repercussions of Maki's rebellion forced Mai to study to become a jujutsu sorcerer. Mai detested the grotesque work exorcising curses entails and resented Maki for essentially thrusting them both