As the Polar Star gang met up with Ikumi and the Aldini brothers, they made their way back to the dorm to celebrate. When they got back, they immediately went into party mode, celebrating everyone's hard work and success during the preliminaries, particularly the four present who had done well enough to advance to the main tournament. The party was a typical friendly gathering at Polar Star dorm, complete with Isshiki once again walking around naked with an apron, which caught the non-residents off guard and freaked them out a bit. Yuki soon came up to them and said, "Don't worry about it. You'll get used to it."

As Daniel was looking around the room, he noticed Soma wasn't there, and he went off to find him. Soon enough, he spotted Soma on the dorm's main balcony, looking out into the nearby forest pondering about the day. As Daniel approached him, he said, "You know, everyone else is inside having fun. Care to join us?" Soma smirked and replied, "In a minute – I just need to get over losing to Akira." Daniel shook his head and tried to explain that he hadn't really lost – that it was only a point difference, that there was a massive difference in experience, that three of the judges hadn't preferred Akira's dish, and that he was still moving on to the next round. Soma, however, didn't really listen. He was still obsessed with reaching the top.

Soma then turned to Daniel and said, "What about you? You've really come a long way since I've known you. Plus, you were really having fun out there." Daniel chuckled at this – he had to admit that Soma was right. "You know," Soma added, "If we meet up during the tournament, I'm going to have to come at you with everything I have." Daniel smiled and replied, "I wouldn't have it any other way," as the two friends fist-bumped each other.

They were then brought out of their conversation by a very familiar voice calling out, "Hey, guys! What are you doing out here?" They turned towards the voice and saw a smiling Megumi walk towards them. "Hey, Megumi," Daniel said, "I was about to ask you the same thing." Megumi smiled and replied, "I just wanted to get some air." As she looked out over the balcony, she added, "You know it's funny – just a few months ago, I was struggling just to stay here. Now I'm competing in the Autumn Elections main tournament. It hardly seems real."

Daniel smiled and stated, "Nah – you've had the talent for this the whole time. You just needed to find a bit of confidence. From what I heard, you really showed your stuff today. I wish I could've seen it – it sounded awesome!" As Megumi said a soft "Thanks," to Daniel, Soma added, "Daniel's right, you know. You're a really talented chef. You absolutely deserve to be in the main tournament – your food is that good. It's like a warm, loving embrace that soothes the very depths of your soul." At these words, Megumi began to blush as she stuttered out, "Thanks, Soma. You're really sweet, you know that?"

The party then suddenly moved to the balcony as everyone else unexpectedly broke the quiet moment the three were having and broke out into more revelry. At one point, it looked like Isshiki would bare all when he removed his apron, only to reveal that he was wearing a speedo (which wasn't that much better, to be frank). As the residents were laughing and Ikumi was freaking out, Soma got that mischievous look on his face. Seemingly out of nowhere, he then pulled out a food container with his latest 'culinary experiment,' and he was prepared to inflict it on everyone he could, starting with Megumi. Before he could do so, however, Daniel intervened by snatching the container and shoving the contents into Soma's face. "How many times have I warned you about pulling that crap!?" he shouted as everyone else laughed at the scene in front of them.

The next morning, as Daniel and the rest of the Polar Star first years were heading out of the dorm and towards campus, they were confronted by someone with a very imposing presence. Daniel recognized him as the contestant that he beat during the preliminaries to get to the main tournament. "Can I help you with something?" Daniel asked. "Yeah," the guy replied. "I'm actually here to see you." He then introduced himself as Subaru Mimasaka and proceeded to, at first, praise him for the dish he had created during the preliminaries before rattling off a bunch of facts about Daniel that made him nervous, as some of those facts were not widely known, including his previous schooling and the fact that he carried a so-called 'lucky coin' with him at nearly all times.

"You seem to know an awful lot about me," Daniel said, trying to maintain a calm facade. "What exactly do you want with me." Mimasaka chuckled as he replied, "I'll get right to the point. Your victory over me yesterday was a total fluke and I intend to prove it to the whole school by taking your spot in the main tournament in a food war." As Daniel knew the rules of staging a food war, he got a confused look on his face as he asked, "And why would I ever agree to something like that?"

Mimasaka then indicated for Daniel to come closer before whispering something into Daniel's ear that caused Daniel to widen his eyes in concern. He then stepped back and stated, "You're bluffing. If that were actually an issue, the administration would have done something back then." Mimasaka then gave an evil smirk and asked, "How sure are you? Would you be willing to risk what could happen?" Daniel then growled as he knew Mimasaka had him. While Daniel was willing to risk the consequences on himself, his friends were a different matter.

Before anything further could be said, Isshiki popped out of nowhere to interject. "Excuse me, but I couldn't help overhearing your conversation. As a member of the Ten in charge of overseeing the Autumn Elections, I would prefer this not go forward. However, if you both insist on it…" Isshiki then looked at both Daniel and Mimasaka, who both indicated that they would proceed, before Isshiki continued, "Then I think I have a solution. Both of you please come by my office in the administrative building after classes today." The two combatants indicated they would do so before Mimasaka walked away.

As he continued to walk to class with his friends, Megumi asked, "Why did you agree to that? What did he say?" Daniel sighed and said, "He told me that if I didn't agree to battle him, then he would publicize the details of our secret food war with chef Kojiro during the training camp. He knew enough of the details where it could cause a problem not only for me, but for you and Soma." Daniel then explained that while he was willing to deal with the scrutiny of how they had been allowed to stay on despite not really winning the battle, he didn't want that burden placed on either Soma or Megumi. "You guys don't deserve that," he stated.

Shun then proceeded to inform Daniel that Mimasaka was notorious for pulling this type of crap. Apparently, in the time Mimasaka had been attending Totsuki, he had battled 99 other students in food wars – winning all of them by 'tracing' his opponents to the point where he could recreate the dishes they would make, then making an enhancement to guarantee his victory. In the process, he had taken the favorite knives of all 99 of his opponents. In addition, he was known to be an underling of Etsuya Eizan, which made him even sketchier. Shun also noted that this was the first time he had demanded something other than his opponent's favorite knife as a prize for winning, which was a bit curious. "So, he's a stalker, huh?" Daniel asked. Shun nodded and added, "And a very skilled one at that." Daniel nodded back and said, "Well, now that I know that, let's see how this battle of wits turns out. He hasn't met a mind like mine before."

After classes were over, Daniel made his way to Isshiki's office, which he held as a member of the Council of Ten. When he arrived, he saw that Mimasaka was already there. With all the parties present, Isshiki explained how it would work. "Although it is short notice, I have managed to arrange for three judges for this food war," he stated. "Also, while we have already completed the bracket draw, complete with the matchups and themes, we're not revealing them to the contestants until closer to the tournament. Therefore, one of you will select randomly from among these three slips of paper," he said, showing a hat with three folder pieces of paper in them. "Each slip contains one of the themes that the winner will not be competing in during the next round."

The conversation then turned towards what was at stake in this food war. If Mimasaka won, then he would take Daniel's slot in the main tournament. When Isshiki asked Daniel what he wanted if he won, Daniel thought for a moment before answering, "If I win, then Mimasaka has to stop doing these food wars where he takes his opponents' knives." Mimasaka nodded, agreeing to the terms. Mimasaka then indicated to Daniel that he could choose the theme from the hat. Daniel reached in and drew a slip of paper, praying that it would be something he was more familiar with. When he unfolded the paper, the theme was revealed to be…Burgers. Daniel pumped his fist in the air as he revealed what he had drawn. While Mimasaka seemed intrigued, he was nonetheless still confident that he would be victorious. He then said to Daniel, "See you in three days," as he walked out of the room.

As Daniel walked back to the dorm, he began to think not only of the dish that he would prepare for the food war, but also how he would go about things for the next few days. Based on what Shun had told him, he knew that he would have to employ some cloak and dagger tactics in getting what he needed. The recipe he would use was a relatively easy one – he already had something that he had developed the previous summer when he was inspired to try to create 'the perfect burger' - a recipe inspired by family cookouts and vacations past. He felt that he had come up with something that would fit the bill and had even written it down in his black notebook. For that, he would keep it on his person at all times during the day, and ask Miss Fumio to lock it up somewhere in her room at night. This would prevent Mimasaka from getting a hold of it.

As for the ingredients he would need to get, this is where his plan would really hinge. Knowing that Mimasaka was watching him somewhere, somehow, he would need to divert his attention to multiple different avenues in order for his plan to work. For this, he recruited his friends to help him gather the ingredients he needed – even offering to reimburse them for the stuff they got. After gathering the people he felt would be best suited for the various tasks, they all agreed to help him. He got help with his proteins from Yuki and Ikumi, Megumi helped with the produce, Soma got the spices and seasonings he needed, and Shun agreed to produce a particular ingredient for Daniel. Over the next couple days, Daniel's friends transported the various ingredients, doing their best to make sure that it didn't look like it was for Daniel.

As for practicing, Daniel was confident in his ability to pull off most of the components without having to make an entire test dish, since he had made them multiple times before. There was only one component that he felt he would need to practice, though there wasn't much he could do about that except to be as inconspicuous as possible. By the time it was the night before the food war challenge, Daniel felt that his burger recipe was where he wanted it to be. He felt he had nailed down the one unfamiliar component, he had acquired all the ingredients he needed, and he had done everything he thought possible to keep everything under wraps. All Daniel could do now was pray that his luck would hold up the next day.

As the food war approached, the student body was abuzz about it. This was an unprecedented food war – in the history of Totsuki, no one had ever challenged someone to a food war over their slot in the Autumn Elections. Even more of a surprise was the fact that Daniel had actually accepted the challenge from Mimasaka, making people wonder what Mimasaka possibly had over Daniel. Daniel ignored the speculation as he made his way toward the venue, with his friends – both from Polar Star and outside the dorm – right behind him giving him moral support until they had to part ways at the contestants' entrance.

With Urara serving as the emcee for the food war, she introduced the contestants as they entered the arena – first Daniel, and then Mimasaka. After explaining what was at stake in this food war to the audience, she introduced the judges. Not only had Isshiki managed to convince master Senzaemon to serve as the head judge, but two other well-known Totsuki professors were also on the panel – Professor Chapelle, and Professor Takao Miyazato (head of the Miyazato Seminar, of which Zenji was a proud member). After both contestants indicated that they were ready, Urara began the contest by declaring, "Let the cooking begin!"