When the gang got back to Polar Star that evening, they were in the mood to celebrate, as now three of their own had made it to the semi-finals of the Autumn Election. Even Miss Fumio was celebrating, declaring that this would be the start of a new 'Golden Age' for the dorm. Ikumi, Isami, and Takumi once again joined the celebrations (despite the fact that Takumi had lost) – as they say, the more the merrier! Daniel also kept his word from earlier, handing over the 30,000 yen in cash from his winnings that day to Fumio, saying that it could be put in whatever general dorm fund there was for parties or whatever other projects the dorm members wanted to pursue.

The party started out in the main hall with plenty of food and drinks to go around, with people generally happily chatting and having a good time enjoying each other's company. Then the party became a little more rowdy – complete with Isshiki bandying about naked in an apron, much to the dismay of the non-Polar Star residents – though not out of control. As the buzz and energy inside the dorm's halls (and Zenji's room) began to increase, Daniel decided to take a few minutes to get some air out on the dorm's balcony.

A few minutes after he reached the outside and settled himself on the railing of the balcony, he could hear Megumi coming towards him, having stepped out from the party herself, looking out at the night sky and forest surrounding the dorm. As Megumi walked up to him, she commented, "Looks like we both had the same idea." Daniel turned at the sound of Megumi's voice and smiled. "Looks like it," he replied. As Megumi settled in next to Daniel leaning on the balcony rail, Daniel said, "You did really well today. Everyone here is really proud of you – and I'm sure your family is, too. Or at least they will be once you tell them." She giggled at Daniel's comment and stated, "Yeah, they will. I'm still having a hard time believing it myself – I was actually able to win against Ryo."

Megumi then got a look on her face like she remembered something, as she reached into her pocket and took out Daniel's coin. "I think this belongs to you," she said as she handed Daniel back his coin. As he took it, Megumi added, "Thank you so much for giving it to me today. It's the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me." Daniel smiled as he commented, "Well, I only give it out for special cases, and you're definitely special." Megumi blushed at Daniel's words as she replied, "Oh, no – that's so nice of you to say, but I'm really not that special."

As Daniel was reassuring her that he was indeed a special chef and person, they were brought out of their own little world by the remainder of the partygoers coming from behind them. The two friends turned and saw that the party had now moved outside, as the rest of their friends were cheering and congratulating them on their success in the quarterfinals. The girls then dragged Megumi to the side for a 'girls only' talk, while Soma and Takumi came up to each side of Daniel to give their congratulations on his success and to wish him the best in the next round.

As Daniel was getting further congratulations from the rest of the guys, the girls were reacting to something Megumi had told them. They then turned towards Daniel with big smiles and grins on their faces as the boys asked them what got them all excited all of a sudden. Yuki then teasingly answered, "We were talking with Megumi about her match today, and apparently Daniel here slipped her his precious lucky coin before the match today for her use." Most of the boys turned to Daniel with looks of astonishment that Daniel actually did that. "Dude!" Daigo exclaimed, followed by a "Nice!" from Shoji. Isshiki then followed with, "Oh, how wonderful to see my precious kohai embrace in the wonderous basking glow of youth!" Daniel chuckled nervously as he responded, "A bit overdramatic, sempai, but I really appreciate the sentiment – thanks."

The next day, the matchups and theme for the semifinal round were announced to the remaining contestants. The theme for both matches would be Western Cuisine, and the matchups would be Megumi against Akira for the first semifinal, while Daniel and Soma would face off in the second semifinal. At hearing the matchups, Daniel groaned slightly, not excited about having to face his best friend at this stage. However, he quickly gathered himself, realizing that the matchup was going to suck no matter who he drew as an opponent. He then faced Soma with a grin and said, "Well, that moment we talked about? It's here – so get ready, Soma. I'm going to come at you with everything I have!" Soma grinned back and replied, "I'd be insulted if you didn't!" They then shook hands, knowing that they would do everything possible to make their match epic.

All of the contestants spent most of the rest of the day trying to come up with a game plan for their upcoming matches. Daniel knew he would really have to come up with something special to beat Soma, as he expected nothing less from him. He thought about trying to make another chocolate dessert, as that was becoming known as his specialty area, but Daniel wasn't sure that a dessert would be able to beat whatever Soma came up with. Besides, while he didn't mind being known for a particular specialty area, he didn't want people to think that was all he was capable of, and he had now made desserts for two consecutive rounds of the competition. 'Perhaps it's time for something a little different and unexpected from me,' he thought.

Daniel racked his brain going through the various possible dishes he could make, eliminating those he thought were either too simple for this type of competition, or those that would be too complex for him to learn to make in ten days (or be able to make in the competition time limit). Finally, he was able to hone in on a Spanish paella as the dish he would make for the competition. It was definitely something he would like to eat, and it was something that would be worthy of a high-level competition like this. While he would definitely need a crash course on how to do the rice, he felt he would be able to get that from the Spanish Cuisine Research Society. 'Hopefully, I'll just have to ask nicely,' Daniel thought.

As he was considering what proteins, vegetables, and aromatics he would include in his recipe, there was a knock on his door. When he opened up, he saw Megumi standing there and immediately invited her in. They then sat down on Daniel's bed as he asked her what he could do for her. Megumi then expressed her worry about the upcoming semifinals, not only because she was matched up against Akira, but also because she was less familiar with the match's theme than she would have liked. To that end, she was hoping Daniel would be able to help her come up with a suitable dish, to which he said of course he would.

Reminding Megumi that she would ultimately have to come up with the final dish herself, he offered to show her streams of his favorite cooking competition shows from America to give her some inspiration. Over the next several hours, they watched multiple shows together, with Daniel trying to find clips that contained dishes that Megumi would be inspired by – dishes that trended towards her comforting hospitality style of cooking. As Megumi was watching the various shows, she was surprised by just how wacky some of the ingredient combinations were. She was also able to find a couple of dishes that particularly intrigued her, as she wrote them down. All of them were good, but none of them seemed good enough on their own. 'Come on, Megumi,' she thought to herself. 'What would Daniel do in this situation?' As she was looking through the dishes she had written down, it suddenly hit her, 'He would take the best parts of multiple dishes and combine them into something new!'

Soon, Megumi figured out a way to combine two of the dishes she had noted from the shows in a way she felt would both play to her personal cooking style, and be unique and exciting enough to play well with the judging panel. When Megumi explained to Daniel what she had thought up, he was both intrigued and impressed by her ingenuity. "Go with it!" he exclaimed. With that problem now solved, Daniel told Megumi about his idea for a paella, which Megumi thought was great for the competition. He then brainstormed with her to come up with the appropriate accompaniments he would use to go with the bomba rice. After a while, he settled on a list of ingredients he would add to the paella.

Over the next several days, Daniel and Megumi worked together for the most part to perfect their dishes, each of them filling in knowledge that the other was lacking and providing suggestions to perfect each other's dishes. One evening, after a long day of testing and tweaking their dishes, Daniel and Megumi sat together on the couch in the main living room just enjoying each other's company. As they thought about their upcoming matches, Daniel commented, "Man, we've both got absolute beasts as opponents." Megumi agreed, stating that it would definitely be difficult for both of them. She then pointed out, "You know, if we both end up winning our matches, we would end up facing each other in the finals. What should we do if that happens?" Daniel thought for a few moments before finally answering, "We'll cross that bridge if and when we come to it. We'll figure it out." After thinking a bit more, Megumi came back with another question. "What would you do if the final ended up being between Soma and I?" Daniel thought for a moment before he deadpanned, "The two of you will be on your own in that case – I'm not involving myself in that one." They then heard Soma laughing from behind them, as he had been eavesdropping for the last part of the conversation without them noticing, before Daniel and Megumi joined in the laughter.

During the ten-day period between the end of the quarterfinals and the day of the semifinals, Polar Star dorm was visited frequently by a reporter from the school newspaper to get profiles on the dorm's three semifinalists – a student from the middle school division named Mitsuru Sotsuda. While he was particularly intrigued with Soma and followed him around the most, he got profiles on all three of them, excited that he would be getting the inside scoop on three of the four semifinalists and make a name for himself with the Newspaper Club. Daniel tried to get Sotsuda to do a follow-up story on the dorm in general, pointing out how well everyone had done during the preliminaries. While Sotsuda said he would pitch the idea, he was also intrigued by how Daniel would refer to himself, Soma, and Megumi as The Three Amigos.

Before they knew it, the day of the semifinals had come, and once again the entirety of the Polar Star dorm, plus a few others, accompanied Soma, Daniel, and Megumi to the main competition arena, where they wished the trio luck before they went into the VIP and competitors' entrance, while their friends went inside the main spectators' entrance. With Megumi's match against Akira up first, she got ready in her dressing room. As she came out dressed in her chef's whites, Daniel and Soma were right outside her door waiting to wish her a final good luck. Soma high-fived Megumi, while Daniel gave her a big hug and wished her luck.

Daniel then offered Megumi the use of his Irish coin again, saying that she could hand it back before the next match if she was concerned about that. Megumi just shook her head and said, "Thanks, but having your support is all the luck I'll need. If I'm going to win this, it will have to be on my own skills." Isshiki then indicated that it was time for Megumi to get into position for the introductions. As Megumi went in one direction, Soma and Daniel decided to head to one of the spare dressing rooms to watch the ensuing match together.