After the second exam was complete, the students had several hours until they had to get to the train station for transport to the next testing site. As the blizzard conditions had now passed, the rebel group decided to take advantage of the time they had and go into Sapporo to enjoy the wintertime festivities, as the central public park had all sorts of stands set up for food, crafts, games, and other fun activities. As the rebels split off into smaller groups to check out various things, Daniel got dragged off suddenly by Soma and Takumi.

When they stopped, they were in front of a frozen custard truck that was serving a frozen custard that was made from a special local milk that made it even richer than regular soft serve or regular frozen custard. Soma offered a taste to Daniel, but he declined – as tempting as it was, he felt that it was way too cold for frozen custard. As Soma and Takumi marveled at the taste of the frozen custard and declared that they wanted to try as much as possible, Daniel got in front of them in an effort to calm them down. "Alright, how about we slow this down for just a second?" he said. "We've got a limited amount of time – let's figure out exactly what we want to do so that we pace ourselves and don't either make ourselves sick or late for the train."

As they came up with a plan, Soma suggested that they get some of the girls to join them on their adventure, which Daniel and Takumi agreed to. Soon, they spotted Erina, Hisako, and Megumi chatting with each other on a nearby bench. Soma then called out to them and asked if they wanted to join the boys in looking around the festivities in the park, and then going to a nearby restaurant where they could get a whole bunch of dishes to share. The girls agreed, and soon they were off, with Soma, Takumi, and Megumi running ahead, with Erina just behind, and Daniel and Hisako holding hands bringing up the rear and watching everyone else.

As they were observing the others while looking at the various stands and booths, Daniel whispered to Hisako, "It looks like Erina is enjoying herself. She certainly seems happier than she usually is." Hisako nodded and replied, "Yes, I think this whole experience has had a profound effect on her. And actually, I think Megumi has had a lot to do with her change, to be honest." Daniel chuckled and said, "Yeah, that's Megumi for you. When you take the time to get to know her, you can't help but like her." He then kissed Hisako's check and added, "Don't worry, though. I'm sure Erina still sees you as her bestie." Hisako giggled as she stated, "I'm not worried. I'm just glad that Erina is making more friends now – close friends, at that."

Later on, the six of them got a table together at the restaurant Soma and Takumi mentioned. As they were sitting, talking, and sampling the various dishes the restaurant had to offer, Erina suddenly changed the topic and started a new conversation. "So, Daniel," she began, "Hisako tells me that it was you who suggested she use kimchi in her burger recipe during her battle with Akira." Soma, Takumi, and Megumi looked at Daniel in surprise as Megumi asked, "Is that true?" Daniel nodded, saying it was indeed true and telling everyone about how he and Hisako had been working in adjacent kitchens at the same time the day before their battles, and how they had ended up tasting each other's trial dishes.

Erina shook her head in amusement as she commented, "You really are a surprising wealth of knowledge." Soma grinned in agreement as Takumi added, "That was a really good idea – one that I'm not sure I would have thought of." Megumi agreed, stating, "Just like how you helped me come up with a dish for my battle against Akira." As Takumi, Erina, and Hisako were looking at Daniel at this new revelation, Daniel commented, "It's just a shame that neither of my suggestions actually helped you to beat Akira. I feel like I let you down." Both Megumi and Hisako shook their heads vigorously, saying that wasn't the case at all. Soma then interjected with, "Don't worry about it. It's like you said – Akira was an absolute beast during that tournament. One of these days, we'll come up with a way to beat him in a food battle."

Daniel then grinned and said teasingly, "Like how you'll beat your dad in a food battle someday?" Soma immediately growled back as he shouted, "Oi!" Daniel then turned to the others and explained, "He's been dueling his dad in food battles for a number of years now, and hasn't beaten him once." Soma still growled as he said, "I will beat him one of these days – you just wait and see!" Everyone else, meanwhile, chuckled at the sight of Soma reacting to Daniel's teasing.

Later, as they arrived at the train station to catch the Totsuki luxury trains that would take them to their next testing site, they were heading towards one of the platforms when Hisako called out to them. "Something's not right," she said, "The platform listed on my itinerary is different from all of yours." As Daniel looked, he saw that her assigned platform number was indeed different for the rest of their group. As Daniel began to wonder what was going on, a familiar voice interjected. "Well of course it is. It's to be expected. After all, there are several paths that diverge at this point." When they looked up, they saw Rindo standing just outside the entrance to the train on the nearby platform, where most of the group was headed.

As Daniel realized that Rindo was right, he tried to rectify the situation, asking Rindo, "You're on the Council of Ten – can't you allow for a change in itinerary for her so she can at least travel the same path as us?" Rindo shook her head as she replied, "Afraid not. Rules are rules on this one – and no itinerary changes are allowed. You're going to have to say goodbye to your girlfriend for the time being." Daniel then looked at her quizzically and asked, "How did you know she's my girlfriend?" Rindo's eyes lit up at Daniel's question as she stated, "I didn't actually, but ooohhh – how sweet." As she stepped back inside the train, Daniel growled at himself for revealing that kind of information to Central.

Daniel then sighed and turned to Hisako, knowing there wasn't anything they could do about the circumstances. As he looked at Hisako, he saw she was beginning to shake with fear and worry about being separated from Erina, and wondering how Erina would be taken care of for the rest of the exam. Daniel then enveloped her in a big hug and whispered in her ear, "It's going to be alright – you'll see." This seemed to calm her down a bit as she returned the embrace and began to breathe a little more calmly. As he pressed his forehead on hers, Hisako asked softly, "Can you do just one thing for me?" Daniel nodded and replied, "Anything within my power." Hisako then said, "Please take care of Miss Erina, and make sure that she remains safe and sound." Daniel nodded again as he kissed her and stated, "She will be. I promise." Hisako then gave a sigh of relief as she stepped back and said, "Then I leave Miss Erina in the good hands of you and your friends."

The two then parted ways, with Hisako waving at Daniel and Erina as she ran off to her assigned platform. When she was out of sight, the remaining five got aboard the train minutes before it departed the station. As they got settled in for the overnight ride, the group once again saw Rindo in the dining car as they made their way there for something to drink. "By the way Rindo," Daniel began, "I meant to ask you, but what are you doing here, exactly?" Rindo grinned as she answered, "Well, it's about your next exam, actually." Daniel raised an eyebrow as he asked, "What do you mean?" Rindo took a sip of her drink before stating, "For the next exam, you and the rest of your rebel friends will each be going up against a member of the Council of Ten."

Daniel's eyes widened in disbelief before he exclaimed, "You can't be serious!" Rindo nodded before replying, "Serious as a heart attack. You all had better get some rest if you want to be in any condition to go up against us." As the five friends left the room still in disbelief at what Rindo just told them, Takumi asked aloud, "Is what she said actually true?" Daniel murmured, "Only one way to find out." He then got out his phone and texted his spy, asking for information on the next exam – specifically as to how Central planned to handle the rebels. As he sent the text, there was a feeling of tension in the air. While they had expected Central to mess with them during the exams, they figured that the powers that be would at least pretend that everything was being conducted fairly. Now it seemed that Central had gotten desperate in their efforts to purge Totsuki of anyone who would dare defy Azami and put his philosophy into question.

A few hours later, just before they went to bed for the night, Daniel received a reply. His source was able to confirm that the rebels would indeed be faced with food battles against the members of the Ten as their next exam – something that no other students would have to face. In fact, no one else would have to face anything even close to that level of challenge. "I guess Central has decided to drop even the façade of being fair and are now just trying to get rid of us by any means possible," Daniel commented. Unfortunately, almost any other useful details were unavailable, either because the Council was keeping it under tight wraps, or because they didn't feel they needed to worry about details until the time of the contest.

Either way, trying to prepare for such a battle would be nearly impossible – not just because of the difference in skill level between the rebel members and the members of the Ten, but also because they had no idea exactly which member would be matched up against any individual rebel. There just wasn't much to go on at this point, meaning there wasn't much Daniel could do to help the rest of the rebels prepare. However, it did seem as though they would have a wide berth in terms of what kind of dish they could make, so he sent out a text to the rest of the rebels telling them about the upcoming battle with the Council of Ten members. In the text, he told them that if they had some sort of special, back pocket recipe they had been saving for a while, now might be the time to bring it out.

After he sent the message, Daniel sighed as Megumi asked, "Isn't there anything more we can do?" Daniel shook his head as he replied, "I'm not sure there's anything at all we can do to thwart them this time. We're really up against it now. We'll just have to do our best and cook the way we know we can." As Daniel looked around the group, he noticed that even Erina looked worried, as even she realized that all of the knowledge and training she had instilled on her newfound friends might not be enough to match the skill and experience level of the members of the Council. The only thing she could do now was trust in their skills and their desire to continue on, and hope that it would be enough.