As Soma and Erina were surrounded by their friends, who were congratulating them on their new positions, they all noticed Daniel wasn't in the group. When they looked around the room, they saw him chatting up Urara. This both confused and irritated them, particularly considering how Urara had treated them all during the regimental food war. They then went over to Daniel and Urara and demanded to know what Daniel was doing. "Why are you talking to that she-devil all friendly-like, as though nothing happened?" As Urara smiled awkwardly, Daniel just grinned and replied, "Everyone, say hello to my spy," as he indicated towards Urara. As the rest of the group sported shocked looks on their faces, Urara struck a cutesy pose and said, "That's right! Surprised?" She and Daniel then high-fived each other.

As his friends nodded slowly, still in shock, several members of Central had come over and overheard the conversation and were also in shock that the school's emcee and class idol had, in fact, been a rebel agent this whole time. "Think about it," Daniel stated, "Who else would have access to the type of information we were given?" While nobody could deny the logic of his argument, the Central members still couldn't believe that they never caught on, while Kuga asked, "How the heck did you manage to pull that off?"

Flashback: The Week Before the First Year Promotion Exams

After Erina had gotten the Polar Star dorm all excited by offering to lead them in their preparations for the upcoming promotional exam in Hokkaido, Daniel had his own plan to provide some insurance for Central's shenanigans that were sure to come. For that, he called up Urara and asked to meet her in a place where they could talk in private. When they met up in person later that evening, Daniel tried to convince Urara to join the rebels' cause, explaining what exactly they were fighting for and why the school would be better off without Central.

Although his points about creative freedom and the enjoyment of one's craft were valid and persuasive, Urara was still initially skeptical of going against the new regime. "I don't know," she said, "It all doesn't seem so bad. The constant pressure cooker that we've all been in is no longer there, and it frankly feels like a big relief." Daniel nodded and agreed that it all seemed reasonable and benign on the surface, but that Azami's methods would mean that many perfectly good restaurants – restaurants that people had put their hearts and souls into – including the one they had worked at together, would be forced to shut down.

As Urara began to waiver from her original position, Daniel added, "Besides that, once Azami fully implements his philosophy on Totsuki, everyone will be learning and cooking the exact same things as each other, which means the Food Wars system will be totally defunct. No more food wars means no more emcee for those food wars. In other words, you and Yua will no longer have your favorite activity here." Urara's eyes widened as she realized that Daniel was right – and she did enjoy being the emcee for the multitude of food wars that occurred at Totsuki.

Daniel could see that she was close to being convinced, but was still on the fence about it, so he decided to make one last push to convince her to join the rebels. After swearing her to secrecy, he told her about how Azami had psychologically and emotionally abused Erina for years as a result of trying to force his so-called philosophy on her (though he didn't provide all of the details he had been given out of respect for Erina). As Urara's eyes widened in horror, Daniel asked her, "Do you really think someone like that should be in charge of this place or the Japanese culinary industry?"

Finally convinced, Urara gave Daniel a nod of determination and asked, "What do you need me to do?" Daniel then told her to pretend to go along with Central and get in good with them – particularly the Council of Ten. "As the face of the first-year class and the school's primary emcee, you'll have access to information that most people won't. Plus, as long as you act casually, no one will be the wiser. When you find out something important, just be discrete and text it to me."

As Urara nodded in understanding of Daniel's plan, she asked Daniel to make sure her identity was kept secret from anyone else until this was all over, which Daniel promised. As they parted ways, Urara turned to Daniel and said, "Good luck – to you and your friends." Daniel smiled and nodded as he replied, "Thanks. And good luck to you as well – stay safe." They then left and made their way back to their respective living places without being noticed.

End Flashback

Urara then bowed to the rebels in contrition as she apologized for her behavior towards them during the regimental food war. "I hope you understand that I did have to keep up appearances, after all." The rebels all nodded, though still very much surprised that Daniel had actually convinced Urara to be a part of his plan and help them. "So wait," Hisako interjected, "That means the souffle you gave her earlier…?" Daniel grinned as he replied, "Was a small token of my gratitude to Urara for everything she had done." Urara smiled as she nodded and added, "Thank you, by the way! It was soooo good!" before she high-fived Daniel again.

That evening, Daniel was spending some time alone in his room decompressing from everything that had happened that day. While there was a party going on amongst the rebels (probably taking place in whatever room Zenji was staying in), Daniel was just emotionally exhausted and wanted to relax in peace. As he was lying on top of the bed in his room, lost in his thought, he heard a familiar and welcome voice calling from the other side of the door while knocking. He immediately got up and opened the door to find Hisako on the other side, still wearing her school uniform (though without the tie). Daniel immediately smiled and welcomed her inside, willing to make time for her no matter how tired he was feeling.

As she came in and Daniel shut the door to give them some privacy, he asked Hisako how she was, noting, "I'm surprised you're not spending your time with Erina right now." Hisako replied that Erina was feeling quite tired and wanted to go to bed early that night, despite the party going on with the rest of the rebels. Daniel chuckled as he stated, "I can understand the feeling." Hisako giggled and said, "I also wanted to spend some quality time with you, you know."

They then both plopped down on top of the bed to relax, as Hisako added, "You really did well today. I'm so proud of you!" Daniel smiled and replied, "Thanks. It was actually a lot more fun than it seemed." As they both chuckled at his reply, Hisako went on. "Also, Erina told me about how you stood up for her at the train station against Azami. Both of us are very grateful for that." Daniel turned to Hisako and stated, "You deserve a good deal of credit for that. You were the one who helped me get in contact with those people and gather the information I needed to get leverage over him." He then grinned and added, "Besides, I promised you that I would do everything I could to take care of her, didn't I?"

As Hisako nodded in response, Daniel got up and went to the dresser, where he opened one of the drawers and took out something. It was a medium-sized box – one that looked like it would hold jewelry. He then went back to the bed and handed it to Hisako, saying, "I believe your birthday is about this time, isn't it? I was going to save it for then, but I think this is a good time to give it to you."

Hisako was astonished that Daniel knew when her birthday was, as she hadn't had a chance to tell him in the midst of everything that had been going on since the Moon Festival. She then opened the box and saw her gift – a thin gold chain with a heart-shaped pendant containing a rose-pink jewel inside (to match her hair). On each side of the pendant was a small rose charm (two total) with pink inlays for the petals. She gasped at seeing it and was almost crying as she said a big "thank you" to Daniel. "I absolutely love it!" she exclaimed.

Hisako then indicated to Daniel that she wanted some help to put on the necklace, to which he obliged. As he was putting it on, and she was admiring it on her neck, she asked Daniel, "How did you even know that my birthday was coming up? I never got a chance to tell you." He smiled and replied, "You can thank Erina for that – she told me."

Flashback: Sapporo – After the Second Advancement Exam

The group of six was wandering through the winter market that had been set up when Megumi saw something that caught her eye, and asked Hisako to join her to take a look. As Hisako did so, and the two of them were engaged in conversation, Erina decided to take the opportunity to talk to Daniel about something quite important. "You know," she began, "Hisako's birthday is coming up soon – only a few weeks from now, in fact. You might want to take the opportunity to look around and see what the stalls here are selling."

Taking the big hint, Daniel began to look closely as the group passed the various stalls. Soon, he saw a necklace that caught his eye that was within his budget. As he began to look at it intently, Erina saw what he was looking at and said, "You have a good eye – she'll love it." As the others were paying attention elsewhere, Daniel quickly bought the necklace and had it wrapped up and packed away before anyone else noticed.

End Flashback

"When I saw it," Daniel said, "It was practically screaming your name." Hisako giggled at this before turning around and pecking him on the lips. They then embraced each other and were about to go deeper when they heard knocking at the door. They both groaned a bit in disappointment at being interrupted as Hisako wondered who that could possibly be. Daniel sighed and replied, "Probably the guys trying to get me to join in on the celebrations." As Hisako nodded in agreement that this was the likely case, Daniel added, "Don't worry, I'll make it clear to them that I'm not feeling like one of their wild parties tonight."

Daniel then went towards the door while Hisako shifted herself so that she was out of the doorway's line of sight – not wanting the Polar Star gang to get the wrong idea about what they were doing. As he approached the door, Daniel stated, "Listen guys, I really don't feel like partying to…" His speech stopped as he opened the door and saw that it wasn't anyone from the Polar Star gang at his door. Instead, it was Urara and Momo, standing there dressed in silky nightgowns and robes (Momo holding her cat plushie) with sultry smiles on their faces.

Daniel was freaking out a bit, as his right eyebrow twitched at the sight, thinking to himself, 'This is…odd,' though he did his best to keep his cool and deal with this calmly. "Uh…hi?" he said, before asking, "What's going on?" The two girls at the door smiled before Urara answered, "We were wondering if we could come in so we could spend some time with you in private." Daniel stiffened up a bit as he thought, 'Scratch that! This is very odd!' Not wanting to be mean to them, he laughed nervously and replied, "You do remember that I actually have a girlfriend, right?"

The two girls continued to smile sultrily as Urara stated, "That's alright. In fact, why don't you invite her to join us." Momo then added, "That way, it would be even cuter and more fun." Now Hisako was starting to visibly react to all of this, as her jaw dropped, and her eyebrows twitched at what she was hearing from the girls at the door. Daniel still hoped that he could resolve this without a scene as he pulled himself together and said (though still very nervously), "While that's a very…sweet offer, I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline. I really love Hisako and my heart belongs only to her."

The girls outside the room began to pout while Hisako was blushing behind the scenes at hearing Daniel's declaration. Daniel then tried to end the conversation gently by adding, "Look, I'm…flattered by this, but even you have to admit this was really sudden. How about you two go back to your rooms and get some sleep. If need be, we'll talk again in the morning." Daniel then closed the door with a sigh of relief, seemingly able to handle that situation deftly.

As he heard the girls start to walk away, Daniel turned around to a still blushing Hisako while saying, "Geez, that was weird." Hisako nodded and replied, "I'll say. What was that about!" Daniel shook his head, stating, "I have absolutely no idea. It was as much of a surprise to me." As they sat back down on the bed, Hisako asked, "What do you think could have caused them to suddenly want you that way?" As Daniel pondered the question, he was having a hard time coming up with an answer, as neither of the two girls had ever indicated any signs of having those feelings for him before – not even close.

"What could have caused that to so suddenly change for the two of them?" he thought aloud. As he thought back on the events of the day, only one thing came to mind that could have possibly affected both of them – the fact that both of them completely devoured his dessert during the final battle. "You don't suppose that could have been it?" Daniel asked. As Hisako thought about it, she had to admit that it was at least possible, especially considering the ingredients Daniel had used. "Strange," he commented, "I never imagined it could possibly have that effect on someone. Why me, though? And why the delayed effects?" Hisako giggled and replied, "Probably because you were the one who made it and gave it to them. As for the effects, I have no idea why it took so long for them to surface." Daniel sighed and said, "Well, let's just hope that the effects wear off by the morning."

As the two of them began to relax again and cuddle on top of the bed, a thought suddenly occurred to Daniel. "Wait a minute," he started. Hisako then must have had the same thought as Daniel as she continued the thought, "What about the other judges who also devoured the dessert!?" As though the universe was confirming their suspicions, they heard another, louder knock on the door, as they could hear giggling on the other side – and it wasn't the two girls from earlier or anyone from the Polar Star gang. Daniel then made his way quietly to the door, where he looked through the peephole. His fears were confirmed as he stiffened for a moment before making his way back to the bed, telling Hisako, "See for yourself, if you want."

Hisako then also made her way quietly to the door and looked through the peephole, seeing what Daniel had seen – at the door were Anne, Decora, and Courage dressed similarly to how Urara and Momo were earlier with similar looks in their eyes, asking for Daniel to open the door. This caused Hisako to shiver as she turned around and saw Daniel had picked up his cell phone and was dialing. "Who are you calling?" she asked. "I figured that since he's the head of Totsuki resorts, chef Dojima can help us take care of the situation quietly," he answered.

Hisako nodded in understanding as she began to look around the room while Daniel began to explain the situation to Gin. She then spotted Daniel's black notebook on the desk. As she walked towards it in curiosity, she could hear Daniel telling Gin, "This isn't funny! I need someone to take care of this as quickly and quietly as possible. I don't want to embarrass anyone else." As Daniel continued to speak on the phone, Hisako looked through the notebook and found the recipe he wrote out for the souffle. She then quickly took a picture of it with her phone so that she could have a copy…to use for research purposes later…yeah, that's it…research.