The fourth day began much like the previous three, with the Three Amigos trying to poach customers from Kuga's restaurant without much success. Just as the lunch rush was getting underway, they were visited by an old friend of Soma's – Mr. Tomita from the bento stand at the Sumiredori shopping district. Soma had called him up the night before and asked him to come by and bring a bunch of table settings that were in the shopping district's common storage to use for the next couple of days. Tomita was more than happy to oblige, saying that he wanted to help Soma in any way he could after what he did to revive the district earlier.
However, Tomita then looked over to the line outside Kuga's restaurant and immediately became worried that Soma would just be overpowered this time. What he didn't see – and what Soma was counting on – was the fact that the people in line were becoming restless over having to wait so long for a table, and the customers inside were being hurried along to accommodate the demand instead of being able to enjoy themselves. As a thank you, Soma gave Tomita a bowl of their new menu item – the diner's Mapo Tofu served with noodles and a giant meatball. While Kuga's minions were initially irritated that he dared to try Mapo Tofu, they weren't impressed with the noodles and giant meatball, thinking it was just a gimmick. Kuga on the other hand, was a bit concerned, as this new dish reminded him of a traditional Shanghai dish known as Lion's Head Soup. He didn't know how, but he knew that Soma was up to something with this dish.
Soma then had Tomita eat along the outside of the meatball without breaking it. Tomita complied and was thrilled to taste the familiar and delicious Mapo Tofu that he had come to love from the Yukihira Diner (and even thought the noodles were a nice addition). After a few minutes, the crowd in line for Kuga's restaurant became even more restless, at which point Soma told Tomita to break up the meatball into the Mapo Tofu. When he did so, he was able to release a golden sauce that had been inside the meatball and was seeping into the Mapo Tofu noodle mix. When he tasted it, he discovered it was delicious curry. The aroma coming from the dish was able to attract some of the people in line and they became intrigued, having never seen a dish like that before. Soon, a multitude of people began to come to the stall, getting out of line for Kuga's restaurant.
The sales began to rack up very steadily and at a faster rate than they had been getting all week. Now that they had the tables set up, they could accommodate more customers, and Megumi played the part of the perfect hostess, making everyone feel welcome. As for Soma and Danel, they were working double time to get the orders out quickly and properly, with Megumi filling in at times when she wasn't directly dealing with the customers and Daniel even helping with the savory dishes while baking more tarts with the extra components he had prepared as Soma had suggested.
As the afternoon wore on, the number of customers continued to grow, but not at the pace Soma wanted or needed in order to overtake Kuga. However, with just the three of them manning the stall, they soon came up against the same problem Kuga had earlier – the fact that they could only handle so many customers at one time before problems with service began to arise. There came a point where the orders were getting backed up and they couldn't keep up with the demand, and Kuga was looking on with a smug look on his face.
It was then that some all-important backup arrived in the form of Subaru Mimasaka. It was him that Daniel had called on that first night and that Soma had provided the keys to the diner so that he could do his mental training. Now, he was fully versed with all of the menu items and ready to fill in wherever he was needed. Soon, they were back up and running efficiently, and the customers were getting their orders again. As the pace became a little less frenetic, Daniel turned to Mimasaka to thank him for his help. He then replied, "It was the least I could do after you helped me find my way." Daniel chuckled and tried to downplay himself a bit, "I just pointed you in the right direction, you chose the right path on your own."
As the afternoon turned into evening and the sun was beginning to set, the stall saw a very steady stream of customers, but it was still not enough to overtake Kuga. However, it was at this point that Megumi's idea for the stall came – and not a moment too soon. She had asked the chief of the Regional Cuisine Research Society if the stall could borrow the club's collection of lanterns from all over the continent. Although she had turned down the opportunity to work with their booth, the chief seemed to understand that Megumi had a good reason, and as a show of support for her, agreed to loan the lanterns to them. Once the lanterns were set up, the area around the stall looked like one of those well-known hawker stalls in Hong Kong or Singapore, making the atmosphere even more inviting for people to come, gather, eat, and enjoy themselves.
Soon, the number of customers at the stall grew even more and everyone was even more frantic in keeping up with the orders. As Kuga was looking on, confident that the stall would soon buckle under the pressure of dealing with more customers than they could possibly handle, the rest of the cavalry arrived. First, it was Ikumi, who arrived just in time to prevent Soma from moving away from his wok station in order to help Megumi with the Hujiao Bing orders at the kiln. She told Soma, "If you walk away from that station now, you'll fall even further behind with the orders." She then immediately stationed herself at the kiln, having seen how the Hujiao Bing were made, and immediately set to helping the customers. When asked about Bowl Club, she said that the stall was going to be in the hands of the newbies for a while, confident that they would be able to hold down the fort.
A few minutes later, the Aldini brothers came to the stall ready to help, much to the surprise of the others. Takumi immediately offered his help, saying that they, too, had left their booth in the hands of their subordinates for the time being. Before Soma could answer Takumi's offer for help, Takumi stated, "Well, if you insist, I guess I'll help you." He then went to work at the wok station beside Mimasaka, while Isami went over to Daniel and began helping him assemble the egg custard tarts for baking, getting a new batch ready to go into the oven and putting a new sheet in as Daniel was taking a piping hot one out. He also helped to place pieces of the sesame brittle on top before serving them to the customers. "Thanks, man!" Daniel said to Isami, "It was really getting crazy over here!" Isami gave a big grin as he replied, "Sure, anytime," in his usual calm demeanor.
As Kuga continued to look on as more and more people came to help out at the stall and keep it on track, he realized that this was Soma's plan all along. 'While he at first appeared to be nothing more than a harmless house cat,' he thought to himself, 'He has proven himself to be a ferocious lion.' More to the point, Soma was a lion whose prowess could match his own. As the last half hour of the selling period ticked away, the people working the stall raced against the clock to not only make sure that they got out as many orders as possible, but also make sure the customers stayed happy and content with the service.
Soon, it came time for Urara to announce the top three selling booths for the Central Area that day. Third place went to the Spanish Cuisine Research Society's El Fuego restaurant. Then came the moment of truth. "In second place is…" she began, "the Chinese Cuisine Research Society's Kuga Chinese Restaurant." At the announcement, the members of the Chinese Cuisine Research Society wailed in disappointment at having failed to take the top spot that day, while Kuga was beginning to fume inside. "And in first place in the Central Area," Urara began again, "is Soma Yukihira's little…stall." At the official announcement, a big cheer came up from said stall as the now seven students working it all high-fived each other in unison. As the surrounding customers gave them a big round of applause for their success, the seven of them all shouted together, "You're welcome, everyone!"
A few moments later, they heard Kuga shout in frustration, "Soma Yukihira! I swear you will pay for this!" Already tired of Kuga's constant disrespectful antics throughout the entire festival, Daniel had now had enough of his nonsense and shouted back, "That's right, Kuga! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!" This elicited a chuckled from both the audience and his friends. A few moments later, as Kuga was still fuming in his frustrations, a familiar voice came seemingly out of nowhere and shouted, "Omigod, Kuga! You lost to a first year!? How embarrassing for you!" At hearing the voice, the look on Kuga's face turned to dread as he knew exactly who the voice belonged to. Rindo Kobayashi then bounded onto the scene, tackling Kuga from behind and playfully giving him a noogie, like an older sister would do to a younger brother.
Kuga then shouted for Rindo to get off of him, shouting, "I don't want to hear it from someone who didn't even participate, and did nothing but walk around and stuff her face for the entire festival!" Rindo just gave her innocent Cheshire Cat-like smile and said, "What are you talking about? Walking around and eating is the best way to participate in the festival." Daniel had to admit, he couldn't argue with that logic. She then turned towards the stall and complimented Soma and the others working there for a job well done, and decided to order some food – one Hujiao Bing and a couple of tarts. After quickly fulfilling her order, she tried the items and declared, "Yummy! These things are totally delish! I can see how you managed to beat Kuga."
As Rindo walked off with a shout of, "Great job, everyone!" Kuga sighed and walked up to Soma, ready to accept defeat. When he began to state that he accepted his defeat and tried to shake Soma's hand, Soma replied, "What are you talking about!?" As Kuga got a confused look on his face, Soma explained, "This challenge is about sales for the entire week, and we've still got one day to go! So get ready for more tomorrow, because I fully plan to overtake you by day's end!" As Kuga looked on stunned, Daniel shook his head and said, "Only you, Soma, would have gone through a day like today and be immediately excited and raring to go for more of the same."
The next day, business continued to boom at the stall, as they continued to ride the momentum they had built the previous day. They were able to get Mimasaka for the entire day, and their other friends came by to help out during various intervals. With the surge in sales they had the last two days, it was just enough to overcome the difference in sales from the first three days, as the Three Amigos' stall finished the festival with the highest total sales in the Central Area, with Kuga and the Chinese Cuisine Research Society finishing in second place, followed by the Spanish Cuisine Research Society in third. In the Main Street Area, meanwhile, the Trattoria Aldini branch restaurant finished in first place in total sales for the area, followed by Bowl Club in second place. Surprisingly, the Shiomi Research Seminar managed to finish in Third Place for the Main Street Area after Alice, Akira, and Ryo finally got themselves together and created some sort of remarkable curry dish using some molecular gastronomy for one of the main elements that created a huge surge in sales for the last two days.
Soma was thrilled with the results, while Kuga was completely disheartened. By beating Kuga over the last two days, he had managed to achieve his overall goal of beating him during the course of the festival, meaning that the food war he desired would come, as Kuga agreed to discuss a time and place later. In addition, Kuga's loss during the last two days meant that he wouldn't be granted his desired food war against Eishi Tsukasa. They were more alike than they cared to admit at that time and had fought each other hard, but Kuga's cockiness was ultimately his downfall in this little war. Additionally, Daniel thought that Soma had made his most important point loud and clear – that the top-rated first years were to be taken seriously, and that they had the ability to potentially match those on the Council of Ten.
As Soma, Daniel, and Megumi were closing up the stall for the final time, they began to make plans for the last evening. Now that they had accumulated enough pine tree tickets, their initial plan was to go to the Mountain Area and try to eat at one of the restaurants there – Erina's, if Soma had his way – and treat themselves for a job well done. While Daniel didn't say anything, he actually was hoping that they would be able to get a table at Erina's restaurant. He hadn't seen much of Hisako since the first night, and he missed her and wanted to see her, even if it wasn't a social call.
As they closed up, Rindo came bounding in and offered to treat the trio to a meal at Eishi Tsukasa's restaurant to congratulate them on their success. Not wanting to turn down such a generous offer (particularly one where they would get to taste the first seat's cooking), they decided to accept Rindo's invitation and privately agreed to try for Erina's restaurant afterwards. They had built up quite an appetite from their hard work, after all. They all then started walking towards the Mountain Area, with Rindo leading the way.