As Daniel and Megumi approached Polar Star Dorm, the late afternoon sun was still shining, though giving signs that the day was starting to come to an end. Daniel continued to follow Megumi while carrying his backpack, a suitcase in one hand, and a small bag of groceries in the other. "Should we wait up for Soma?" Megumi asked. Daniel shook his head and said, "Nah, I'm sure he'll be fine. Besides, if he really gets into trouble, he has my cell phone number." When they arrived at the front door, Megumi turned to Daniel and smiled nervously as she said, "Everyone here is really nice, though the dorm mother can be a bit eccentric." Nodding his head in understanding, Daniel followed Megumi inside where they were met by said dorm mother in the kitchen.

The 60-something dorm mother introduced herself as Fumio Daimido, "Though you may refer to me as Miss Fumio, if you like," she said. After Daniel introduced himself and Miss Fumio gave him a once-over look, she asked if he was prepared for her test. Daniel held up the bag of groceries he had bought, indicating that he was. "Excellent!" she exclaimed. "Let's see exactly what you're made of. Begin!" With that, Daniel got out his ingredients and began cooking, with Megumi staying in the kitchen as well, curious as to what he planned to make. Daniel had bought at the market some vegetable broth, a couple of heirloom tomatoes, a couple of onions, scallions, garlic, plain Greek yogurt, dill, a lemon, potatoes, eggs, panko breadcrumbs, and jumbo lump crab meat.

He first cut up the potatoes into perfect sticks to use as fries and put them in water to prevent them from oxidizing and getting rid of some of the starch. He then combined the eggs with some diced onion, some scallions, some salt and pepper, and the crab meat, and formed them into balls, flattening them out on each side just a bit. He then took a couple more eggs, dipped the crab patties in the egg mix, and then coated each patty with the breadcrumbs before setting them in a pan to cook. Next, he took a big wok, filled it with oil, turned up the heat, and threw in the potato sticks to cook them up a bit. He proceeded to take them out of the oil and turn up the heat even more before finishing the frying process and tossing the fries in some sea salt. While some of his stuff was cooking, he took more of the yogurt, added some chopped dill, some of the garlic he had partially roasted in the oven and chopped, and some lemon juice, and mixed them into a sauce that he put in a small side container. Finally, he took his crab cakes out of the skillet and set them on two plates along with a side of fries – one for each of the ladies currently in the kitchen.

"So, what have you made, young man?" Fumio asked. "A panko-fried crab cake," Daniel explained. "Crab cakes are definitely a favorite back in the States, though I gave a little twist with the panko breadcrumbs. Also, I gave you a homemade tzatziki sauce that you can use either on the crab cake or as a dip for the fries. As both Miss Fumio and Megumi dug in, they were pleasantly surprised that the sweetness of the tender crab contrasted so well with the outer crunchy coating. In addition, the fries were done perfectly – golden brown and crispy on the outside, while soft and fluffy on the inside. Not only that, the tanginess of the tzatziki sauce cut through the savoriness of both the crab cake and the fries while also complimenting the two items perfectly, making them want to keep eating until there was nothing left. The dorm mother then smiled and exclaimed, "That was quite a dish. I haven't had a crab cake that tasty in years – you pass!" Daniel pumped his fist in the air in triumph while Megumi looked on happily.

Miss Fumio then handed Daniel a key to his room – on the third floor, and right across the hall from Megumi's room, as it turned out. Once he opened the door and took a look around the room, he got to work unpacking his things and setting himself up. In addition to his clothing, he also brought his laptop computer, his iPod, a baseball mitt and ball, his Los Angeles Dodgers baseball cap, some books – including a couple of cookbooks his parents had given him for school, and a soft wool blanket he had gotten on a family road trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, which was designed with a blue, grey, and white southwest motif. Soon, it began to feel a little like home.

A short while later, Daniel heard some commotion coming from one of the rooms downstairs, as well as the smell of smoke and the sound of…wild animals? "What the hell…?" he said to himself as he went downstairs to investigate. When he reached the stairwell, he could see smoke coming from one of the rooms on the second floor, as well as a stampede of various animals going through the lobby followed by a short orange-haired girl calling after them. He also saw Soma standing in the doorway. "Hey Soma!" he called out. "Glad to see you made it!" Soma grinned at his friend and said, "Yeah, it took a bit longer than I thought to find the place. What's with this place, anyway?"

Before Daniel could answer, Miss Fumio came up to them and exclaimed, "Ah! The second transfer student has arrived!" After making her introduction to Soma, she led him to the kitchen as Daniel followed. When she explained about the entrance test, Soma looked very confused and screeched, "Huh!?" Daniel then turned to Soma and asked, "Dude – didn't you read the papers that gave the information on this dorm?" When Soma handed his copy over, Daniel saw there was only one page when there should have been two – with the details about the test on the missing page! Daniel facepalmed at realizing what had happened and groaned, "Aww, dude."

At this, Miss Fumio commented that it didn't look to be Soma's night, and that there were only a few leftovers and scraps in the kitchen. Soma then lit up as though he had an idea and asked if he could use the leftovers for the test. Fumio was surprised, but let him at least have a look at what was available. After a few minutes, Soma declared that he would take the test, to which Fumio scolded, "Don't think you can just make any old thing – I don't like cocky brats that think they know everything." Daniel then told Fumio, "Don't worry about him. He may seem like he's overly cocky, but he can definitely back up that confidence." Fumio still seemed a bit wary, but indicated for Soma to proceed.

Sure enough, Soma was able to create an unexpectedly great dish using canned mackerel to make a mackerel burger, pairing it with an egg drop soup, which he made in part using his signature dried squid as the base for the stock. In fact, Fumio was so taken with the dish that she got lost in a fantasy and came at Soma with her arms out and lips puckered. As Soma cried for help in that moment, Daniel was unable to come to his rescue, as he couldn't move due to him clutching his sides from laughing so hard. "I didn't realize you were into older women," he exclaimed. Soma briefly glared at him and replied, "Shut up, man!" Daniel just smirked and stated, "Well, since you got us behind the eight ball right off the bat today, consider us now even."

Fumio then gathered herself again and declared that Soma had also passed, and gave him a room key – on the third floor like Daniel. As they walked up the stairs, Daniel turned to Soma and said, "Sorry about giving you such a hard time today. We cool?" Soma then smiled back and fist bumped his friend while saying, "Yeah, man. I know you have my back. Just like I have yours."

A short time later a Daniel was lying on his bed, he heard a voice call out to him from somewhere he couldn't quite tell. Suddenly, one of the panels on the ceiling was pulled away, leaving the face of a boy with light brown hair in its place, smiling. "Hello, there, young transfer student. I wanted to let you know that there's going to be a party in one of the other rooms and that you and your fellow transfer student are invited!" Glad that this guy was friendly, but still freaked out about how he made his appearance, he told him, "I appreciate the invite and I'll be glad to come, but could you just knock on my door next time?" The boy then gave Daniel a quizzical look and asked, "But where's the fun in that?"

Later, in one of the rooms on the second floor, which belonged to a fellow first year bespectacled boy named Zenji Marui, Daniel and Soma joined the rest of the dorm residents in some late-night revelry. As it turned out, everybody but one person was also a first-year high school student. There were two girls in addition to Megumi – the long, magenta-haired Ryoko Sakaki and the short orange-haired Yuki Yoshino (the girl chasing the animals earlier). In addition to Zenji, there were three other first-year boys – Shun Ibusaki, who wore his bangs over his eyes, and a pair of boisterous friends in Daigo Aoki and Shoji Saito. The remaining dorm resident was a second-year boy – the one who had made the surprise appearance in Daniel's ceiling – Satoshi Isshiki.

As Daniel and Soma settled in, Ryoko offered them a drink of what she said was rice juice. While it had a sweet flavor that he generally liked, it seemed to be a bit strong in other ways for Daniel's taste and he decided to very much limit himself with the stuff. As he sat down next to Megumi, he noticed that she was preoccupied with something. When he asked her about it, she stuttered that it was nothing to worry about, though she was blushing a bit in embarrassment. Daniel decided not to push the matter further.

Pretty soon, the conversation in the room turned to something called the Council of Ten, which Soma and Daniel asked about to everyone's surprise, as they thought everyone who came to the school would know about it. They then had Zenji explain the important details. Basically, the council was comprised of the ten best students in the school and was the most powerful student decision-making body on campus, below only the headmaster in authority. As Zenji finished his explanation, Daniel asked, "Don't you all think that's a bit too much power for students to have?" Most of them shrugged, saying that that's how it had been at Totsuki since the school's beginning.

Daniel then turned to Megumi and began asking about her background. Megumi told Daniel that she had grown up with her mother and grandfather at their family inn in a seaside town in the Tohoku of Japan in the northeast. Daniel noticed that she was more relaxed and happier when she discussed this subject and couldn't help noticing the smile on her face when she did so. Megumi then asked Daniel about his background, and he told her about how his father had moved the family from the United States, and how he had met Soma and began tutoring him and cooking with him. When he mentioned the fact that he had already graduated from the regular high school system, Megumi exclaimed in surprise, "Wait! You already graduated from high school!? And you decided to come here instead of going to college!?"

At Megumi's outburst, the rest of the people in the room turned towards them and asked Daniel if they had heard Megumi correctly. Soma then grinned and said, "Yeah, it's true. He's definitely the smartest person I know. He was my tutor and the reason I was able to get through middle school." Daniel smiled and nodded at Soma in appreciation for his words. Ryoko then asked, "But still, why did you decide to enroll here instead of going to college?" Daniel then explained that he had grown tired of being the youngest person by far in school, that Soma had shown him how enjoyable cooking could be, and that he wanted to do something fun with peers his own age before going to college.

At hearing this, Isshiki sighed and exclaimed, "How wonderful! Another person here who can appreciate the wonders of youth!" He then, without explanation and somehow without much effort, stripped off all his clothing simultaneously, leaving him in nothing but an apron. While everyone else, including Soma, seemed to take this in stride as though it was normal, Daniel's eyebrows began to twitch. 'What…the HELL?' he thought to himself. He then shouted, "Oi! Put on some pants, you weirdo!" Isshiki chuckled and replied, "What? Pants? That's so pedestrian." With Daniel in shock by the response, Megumi gently took his shoulder and whispered, "I know it's a bit strange, but you'll get used to it after a while." Daniel sighed to himself. While that may or may not end up being true, he was still weirded out by it. Then again, he thought about how everyone had reacted to his "unique situation" and had accepted him quite easily. As he truly thought about it, he said quietly to himself, "Maybe I can get used to this. Even with all the weirdness."

Later on, as just about everyone had fallen asleep, Isshiki approached Soma with a whisper in his voice, though Daniel was able to hear it. While he welcomed Soma to the dorm, he also indicated for Daniel to come over to join the conversation. He then presented them with a plate of food he had just made – mackerel with black pepper and pureed cabbage. When they tasted it, they could tell that it was on a whole other level from anything else they had ever tasted. Isshiki then revealed that he was, in fact, the seventh seat on the Council of Ten and that he wanted to see what Soma could do.

Not one to back down from a challenge, Soma got to work making a mackerel dish of his own. As he was cooking, a couple of the other dorm members – namely Shun, Ryoko, and Yuki – began to stir with the aroma coming from Soma's cooking. When he was finished, he revealed a mackerel onigiri chazuke, seeped in salty kelp tea. He made one for everyone who was awake, including Daniel. When they dug in, they were blown away by what they tasted – a perfect dish for the spring season! They all finished rather quickly and thanked Soma for the food. Isshiki then got up to shake Soma's hand, at which point Megumi began to stir awake.

Isshiki then challenged Daniel to make a dish and allow them to see what he could do. As it was the middle of the night, Daniel's head was fuzzy, even with the delicious dishes he had just eaten, so he was having a hard time coming up with something immediately. It also didn't help that cooking fish (as opposed to shellfish) was not his strongest suit. He finally came up with something that he felt he could execute well enough and told everyone to give him a minute while he gathered the ingredients. He came back with the last piece of mackerel, along with one of the tomatoes he bought, the vegetable broth, the remaining scallions, onions, and eggs, and the half-full bag of panko breadcrumbs. He also found mirin, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, and some rice in the kitchen.

As he began working on his dish, Isshiki noticed a couple of instances when he reached into his pants pocket and took something out for a few moments before placing it back in the pocket. When Daniel finished, he presented a piece of mackerel fried in panko breadcrumbs, with a side of rice that had diced tomatoes, onions, and scallions in it. Although it seemed like an ordinary dish, when Isshiki took a bite, he could tell that Daniel had apparently learned quite a bit in his relatively short time learning from Soma. First, he marinated the fish in a combination of mirin, soy sauce, and teriyaki to get rid of the fishy smell. He then coated the fleshy part using the eggs and breadcrumbs before frying it to a golden brown on all sides, and finishing on the skin side to make it all crispy on the outside. As for the rice, he had cooked it in the vegetable broth, and diced the tomato, onion, and scallions before giving them a quick sauté, though putting in the tomatoes and scallions a bit after the onions, making sure not to cook them completely so that they kept their texture.

'His techniques still need some work,' Isshiki thought, 'but his instincts regarding flavor combinations are right on target.' Everyone else seemed to think the same thing, as they told him how much they liked the flavors of his dish. He thanked them for their kind words, sighing with relief that he had been able to pull it off. Isshiki then commented, "I noticed a couple of times that you took something out of your pocket while you were cooking. May I see what you have there?" Nodding, Daniel reached into his pocket and handed Isshiki his encased Irish coin. As he took a closer look, particularly at the marble shamrock insert, Isshiki exclaimed, "Ah! What a unique and interesting specimen! A good luck charm I take it?" Ryoko and Yuki then chimed in, saying, "Oh, yeah! Megumi has something like that. Can we see?" Daniel nodded and Isshiki handed it over to the girls, who were admiring it before Daniel said, "I don't know if I would consider it a real good luck charm, but I figured it couldn't hurt to have it with me."

After Megumi handed Daniel his coin back, Isshiki was welcoming Daniel once again to the ranks of Polar Star dorm when Soma asked if this could be considered a preview for their inevitable battle for a spot on the Council of Ten. While Isshiki chuckled at this, Daniel took Soma by the sleeve and said, "Soma, it's late. Get some sleep before you think about battling him." He then dragged Soma out of the room to their own rooms for the night, as everyone else followed suit.