Reina Tsuru (1960-2005) was a Japanese businesswoman and the founding owner and "mama" of the Serena Executive Lounge bar in Kabukicho, Japan from the 1980s to 2000s.
Biography[]
Reina Tsuru was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1960, and she founded the Serena Executive Lounge in Kabukicho during the 1980s. She became close with her bar's regular, Akira Nishikiyama, and also befriended Nishikiyama's friend Kazuma Kiryu and another regular, Jun Oda. Reina witnessed Hiroki Awano and his men's violent confrontation with her three customers on the night of 14 December 1988, helping to tend to Oda's injuries after he came into the club with several bruises and bloody wounds. When Goro Majima later came to the bar in search of Makoto Makimura and Kiryu, he got into a fight with Nishikiyama, and Tsuru threw Nishikiyama medicine to help him in the fight, which he ultimately lost. Even after the Empty Lot dispute was settled in 1988, Kiryu and Nishikiyama continued to be regulars at Tsuru's bar. Following the 1995 murder of Sohei Dojima by Nishikiyama (which Kiryu took the blame for, and served 10 years in prison for), Reina stopped opening the bar to the public and only admitted regulars, and she continued to hold a flame for Nishikiyama, even as he grew more ambitious and cold. In December 2005, on Kiryu's release from prison, she agreed to spy on Kiryu for Nishikiyama, hoping to win his love. She grew increasingly remorseful after meeting a little girl Kiryu had rescued, Haruka Sawamura, and Kiryu's detective friend Makoto Date; ultimately, Reina fell out with Nishikiyama due to his cold nature, and she decided to write a note to Kiryu apologizing for betraying him and promising that she would make up for what she had done. Reina lured Nishikiyama to Serena, where she tried to shoot Nishikiyama, only to be forced to flee after failing in her assassination attempt. Kiryu's ally Shinji Tanaka attempted to help Tsuru escape the wrath of the Nishikiyama-gumi, and they escaped to an abandoned cabaret club in the Hotel District. During the chase, however, Nishikiyama's hitman Kazuto Arase gunned Reina down, and he had his hitman Hiroya Inagaki throw Reina's body in front of Kiryu and a wounded Shinji upon confronting them. After defeating Arase and his men, Kiryu closed Reina's eyes and brought her and Shinji's bodies to the Florist of Sai, who ensured that they received proper burials.
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