The crowd began to murmur loudly and wonder aloud whether such a dish was even possible to make. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Yuki exclaimed. "It's impossible! How can anyone possibly pull that off!?" Even Zenji was doubtful that this could be done, as he said, "While I was able to make a soup that combined three of the world's most famous soups, I don't know that anyone can combine five cuisines that have such varying flavors and techniques." On the venue floor, Soma seemed to be having a hard time with the theme as he and Daniel were racking their brains to figure out how they were going to combine all five of those cuisines into one cohesive dish. Asahi, meanwhile, seemed to have his idea under control, as he was already gathering ingredients and calling out, "Hey, Soma! You don't have that much time to think about this – you should really think about getting started." Still miffed over their last match, Daniel retorted, "Stuff a sock in it!" before he and Soma got back to forming a game plan.
Soma's face then lit up, as it looked like he had an idea. He then brought Daniel closer so he could explain what he had in mind without anyone else overhearing. When Soma finished, Daniel nodded in agreement, commenting, "I like it. It's a really good idea for featuring a multitude of different ingredients and flavors. Plus, it ticks one of the cuisines off the list right off the bat." The two then went back and forth figuring out exactly how to integrate the rest of the cuisines into the one dish. After a few minutes, they seemed to have come up with a plan of action and went to work.
Meanwhile, Asahi continued to troll Soma and Daniel during his own cooking, bringing out Joichiro's knife to use throughout the match as a part of his Cross Knives skill, as well as bringing out Daniel's coin to place in his own pocket to bring good fortune and increase his already good odds of winning. During the match, he crossed Joichiro's knife with a series of other knives and utensils, including Eishi's grater, with all of the skills that came with those tools increased by the use of Joichiro's knife. At one point, he even became a bit delusional as he declared that he was not battling alone in this match, with all of the masters he had studied under all with him through the tools he was using. This caused the Totsuki section to boo and hiss at Asahi for trying to be the protagonist hero in this story, as he was clearly anything but a hero. In reality, Asahi had forced all of those masters to battle him so he could take their prized tools. Even Asahi's closest companions seriously doubted that any of them would actually be rooting for him right now.
As they continued to cook, Daniel noticed several people on a balcony with an overview of the competition venue. Not only were Erina, Senzaemon, Joichiro, and Gin watching the match, but Alice and Hisako had joined them, dragging Azami along with them. While Daniel had no clue exactly what Azami was supposed to do, he had learned from past experience to trust in Senzaemon's "special wisdom." The cooking was intense, as Soma and Daniel worked manically to not only make five different dishes – which everyone thought was completely insane to begin with – but also combine them all together in one dish. On the other side, even Asahi was giving a maximum level of effort, as he was profusely sweating to get his dish complete. In the end, both Asahi and Soma completed their dishes with minutes to spare, and brought them to the judges' table.
Although both dishes were covered in cloches, Asahi's dish gave off a clearly powerful aroma, while Soma's dish gave off almost nothing, creating a presumption that Asahi's dish possibly had far more to offer. The judges decided to start with Asahi's dish. When they removed the cloche, they saw what looked like a pie with all sorts of ingredients visible through the lattice pie crust. This was, in fact, a Basty, which was a soup dish with a lattice pie crust as a topper. Asahi then instructed the judges to break the pie crust into the soup and mix it with the other ingredients. He even loudly offered Mana a serving of his dish, absolutely confident that it would be to her liking, which she took him up on.
When the judges dug into the Basty, they were overwhelmed with the abundance of flavors that were flowing through their mouths. The soup base was a Chinese shark fin soup, enhanced by an Indian spice blend, which also enhanced the other ingredients, including the shark fin meat, the French pie crust, the Italian ravioli, and the ravioli filling, which was dondurma (a sticky and stretchy Turkish ice cream). The judges were astounded, as this dish should have been impossible to make, yet all of the flavors combined together in miraculous harmony.
As the judges were bowing to Asahi's greatness, several loud explosion-like bangs could be heard throughout the venue. Before anyone knew it, several sections of the venue saw the people have their clothing suddenly fly off of them. This was only possible through the Nakiri family's endowment pulse, which causes others in the vicinity of a Nakiri family member to lose their clothing if that family member tastes something truly delicious. This could only mean that Mana had found Asahi's Basty to be quite exceptional. This caused Asahi to try to declare his victory right there and then, as even Mana had approved of his cooking. Soma and Daniel only glared at Asahi as Soma prepared to present his dish.
When Soma lifted the cloche, he presented Fried Rice to the judges. This caused a massive amount of confusion amongst the crowd. Even the Totsuki contingent couldn't figure out what he was doing presenting this dish. Meanwhile, Asahi and his lieutenants began to mock Soma, saying that this dish had to be a joke – that this would obviously be a failure. It took all of Daniel's self-control not to go over to Asahi and punch him, but Soma looked as confident as ever. Suddenly, Asahi stopped mocking Soma, as it seemed that he began to notice something unusual about the fried rice – as if not everything was as it seemed.
The judges, meanwhile, were initially resisting trying Soma's dish, as they didn't want to forget the taste of Asahi's Basty, but Lanterby finally forced a spoonful down their mouths, as they were required to taste each dish. Once they each had their first bites, they were suddenly affected so drastically that they began devouring the fried rice dish with abandon, which stunned the crowd and the remaining Noir people. While everyone, including Asahi, was staring in shock, Soma decided to offer up his dish for Mana to taste, which she agreed to do as she had tasted Asahi's dish. However, she also called for a bucket, "Just in case." At this, Daniel called out, "You won't be needing it! Trust me!"
The judges then began to analyze the various ingredients and flavors in Soma's fried rice. There was a French mirepoix (the base vegetables for many French dishes), Chinese dongpo pork, fish from an Italian acqua pazza, and an Indian poriyal (with diced green beans, toasted coconut, and various Indian spices). The rice base of the dish was made in a Turkish pilaf-style using the stock from the acqua pazza, which in conjunction with the sprinkling of soy sauce, brought the whole dish together cohesively. As everyone was wondering how this dish was possible, Soma explained that while this was a culmination of everything he had learned from the various chefs he had come across since enrolling at Totsuki, the original inspiration for this dish was his mother.
"Fried rice was the first dish that she ever taught me how to cook," he explained. Soma then turned to Asahi before continuing, "Plus, this dish has been perfected with a flavor that you might not know, but I am more than familiar with – the taste of failure. Only that taste can teach you and inspire you to come up with endless possibilities to try." At this, Asahi began to laugh, saying that only a loser chef would be able to say such a thing. However, as he said this, the explosion-like bangs were heard once again, only they were louder and more powerful. This time, everyone in the entire venue, including the judges (though not the competitors) saw their clothing violently removed from them – shredded off instead of coming off, which indicated a combination of the Gifting Pulse and the Burst coming from Mana. This meant that she found Soma's dish to be superior to Asahi's. At this, Daniel got a big grin on his face and shouted, "All of you who doubted Soma on this one can go eat crow!"
As Asahi wailed aloud, wondering how that was even possible, Mana took to the loudspeaker to explain that the secret to the dish was the oeuf mayonnaise that was mixed in. The mayonnaise served to coat the grains of rice, making each grain like a microscopic omelet rice and only releasing the fantastic aroma of the dish once the eater had taken a bite, making the dish an Unscented Fried Rice – a revelation that stunned both the crowd and the judges. This could only be achieved by mixing the mayonnaise in as the rice was being fried at a very high temperature, and had to be done very quickly. While Mana found Asahi's dish to be extraordinarily delicious and infused with the techniques of various masters, when she peeled the layers back, she found the taste of the dish to be quite empty and soulless, as though Asahi had contributed nothing of his own person and soul to the dish. Soma's dish, meanwhile, had the soul-warming taste of family, companionship, and a great thirst for learning along the way, infused with Soma's own soul and flare. In addition, it tasted of a bond of friendship that was incredibly strong.
When Asahi tried to refute this in anger, Daniel stepped in and stated to Asahi, "You know, from what I understand, Joichiro offered to take you with him back to Japan and make you a part of his family, and you turned it down because you wanted Joichiro to yourself." He then put his arm around Soma's shoulder and continued, "The brother-like bond that Soma and I have – you could have had it yourself. You really have nobody else to blame but yourself for the misery and anger you've felt all these years." Asahi then shouted back angrily, "Shut up! What would you know about any of this, anyway!?" Daniel shook his head and responded, "Only that Mana's take on your cooking is almost certainly dead on. You may have a unique set of skills when it comes to the kitchen, but without putting your own heart and soul into your cooking, it's all a hollow exercise."
Asahi snarled in frustration as he wanted to refute this, but knew he couldn't. Moments later, Soma was declared the winner of the match in a clean sweep! Once the victory was made official, Soma and Daniel gave each other a big high-five in celebration, knowing that the threat of Noir had now been taken care of (at least in this venue). Asahi then sighed in defeat as he walked up to Soma and tried to hand over Joichiro's knife in acknowledgement of his loss. Soma just shook his head and said, "Hard pass! You won that knife from my father fair and square, so it's only right that you get to keep it." Soma then took a quick look at Daniel with his arms still in the air in triumph before grinning and stating, "However, there is someone else who I think has earned his prized possession back, don't you?"
Quickly figuring out what he meant, Asahi nodded as he reached into his pocket and took out Daniel's coin before handing it to Soma, who then indicated for Daniel to come over. When he did, Soma grinned at his friend and said, "I believe this belongs to you," before handing over the coin. Daniel could only stare in disbelief for several seconds, looking both at Asahi and Soma – both of whom nodded – before giving Soma a big bro hug and saying, "Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Really – I do." Soma just smiled and replied, "Anytime." Soma then turned back to Asahi and asked, "By the way, what was it that made you want to marry Erina, anyway?" Asahi stiffened for a few moments before giving a general answer about wanting to be stronger, though neither Soma nor Daniel bought that. Asahi refused to give a real answer as he just left the venue quietly, taking his loyal lieutenants with him.
After Asahi left, the whole Tostuki contingent came down to the venue floor to congratulate the duo on a job well done (mostly Soma, as he was the head chef and he had directed Daniel on what he wanted for the dish). Alice and Hisako also came down from the balcony to congratulate Soma on a job well done, and Hisako also gave Daniel a big hug and whispered into his ear, "You did great, too. I'm so glad you got your coin back." Not only was everyone excited about defeating Noir, but there was also the fact that Mana really liked Soma's dish, which Soma grinned and chuckled at in agreement, confident that he had what it took to win this thing.
Mana, however, stated over the loudspeaker, "Not so fast, Mr. Yukihira. While I did find your dish to be extraordinary, it still doesn't rise to the new dimension of flavor that I am ultimately searching for in this competition." Daniel groaned as he shouted, "Are you kidding me!?" while the rest of their friends had to wonder what it would take to satisfy this person. Even Soma commented, "Man! Your appetite must be completely insatiable." Mana then announced, "For tomorrow's final match, I will be asking the contestants to create cuisine that the world has not yet seen." As Mana was setting this seemingly impossible task, Erina finally came down to the venue floor and walked towards everyone. However, as Soma was trying to cheer her up and wish her luck for their match, Erina just simply walked by everyone without saying a word.
Hallelujah! Daniel was able to get his coin back! All's well that ends well, even if it's not quite the end of the arc just yet. I hope you liked how Daniel got it back and that you'll be looking forward to the next chapter. Remember, please review.