*After Snake and the Rhythm Masters went inside, Quote stepped out of the darkness. He sighed, then sat against the building.*
This tournament... I lost to a skeleton who's only here because his brother didn't want to be, and to an alcoholic, bullet hell-loving fanatic. The votes were so close, too. I could've beat ZUN by 2%.
...maybe Balrog was right, I shouldn't have taken the invitation. I'd be better off fighting things in caves than stick around here just for music.
Come on, Quote, is that what a real fighter would do? Putting yourself down and being upset just because you lost?
Huh? Who said that?
H-Hey, back off! I don't even know if you're part of the tournament!
Jeez, Quote, relax. My name's Kade Berry, and I'm just here to talk.
What makes you think I can trust you...?
If you didn't, you would've started fighting me already.
...
...can we discuss now?
Look, just tell me what you want to talk about, aside from you overhearing me earlier.
You wanna talk about the fighters? The votes? This "studio" in and of itself?
I want to talk about the tournament. Moreso, prior to it beginning.
You mean... getting the invitations?
Bingo.
What the- how did you get that!?
Some jerks from my homeworld decided to do a bit of snooping on this tournament. There were rumors of someone from the place I live, the Mushroom Kingdom, getting an invitation to it, but it turned out to be a big joke once the directions I got sent me to the wrong place. I ended up being locked in an abandoned shed until I forcefully broke out about a half hour later. After chasing them down, giving them what they deserved, and looking at the letter, I found out it wasn't official. They made it themselves just so they could hijack the whole tournament.
...that being said, I wasn't too upset about it. My application to join the first tournament never got a response, so I learned that being famous in this sort of way wasn't too important. Now, that doesn't mean having a bunch of cool songs isn't fun; that sounds like the best thing ever to me.
...I see.
My point is, Quote, don't be too hard on yourself just because you got kicked out, or in this case, lost the losers' brackets. I wasn't accepted into the first tournament, and everyone else probably won't remember me applying. But, you can still stick around to see who wins, or maybe you'll get some kind of consolation prize!
I doubt that, but... thanks. One question, though...
Yeah?
How did you manage to find this place? Aren't the tournament's participants the only ones who can even get here?
...well, let's just say I have some friends who know about inter-dimensional travel. I'd rather keep it a secret, but if you really want to know...
...call this number and go from there. I'll see you around.
*Quote looks at the paper, putting it into a pocket.*
"Kade"... I think I'll remember that name.