As they were heading back to the resort to get some rest before the final match the next day, Daniel could see how worried Hisako was about Erina's mental state. "Do you think she'll be alright?" Daniel asked in concern. Hisako could only shake her head, saying that she couldn't tell right now, which was rare for her, as she almost always had a good read on how Erina was doing and what it would take to help her. "She's been working all of her life to get her mother's approval when it comes to her cooking, particularly since Mana left the Nakiri household. Now, she's on the cusp of winning a tournament her mother organized and put together, and yet that goal still seems completely out of reach to her." Hisako looked down sadly as she continued, "I feel so helpless – I just don't know what to say that can help her right now."

Daniel put his arm around her shoulder in an effort to comfort her, commenting, "I really don't understand that family sometimes. I mean, parents are supposed to just love their children no matter what. While I can't speak for Alice's parents, the only one in Erina's part of the family that seems to get that is master Senzaemon." Hisako sighed as she responded, "Things are just more…complicated in the Nakiri family." Daniel nodded as he thought to himself, 'That's an understatement.'

That evening at the resort, Daniel and Hisako were able to meet up with everyone else in the Tostuki contingent to provide some final words of support for Soma before the match he had been waiting for since he took the entrance exam a year-and-a-half ago – a one-on-one match with Erina Nakiri herself, with the opportunity to not only defeat the God Tongue but also finally achieve one of his long term goals to get her to say his food is delicious, Daniel knew that Soma would now need to take care of one other thing. Taking Soma aside, he told him how Erina really needed to snap out of this funk she was in - not even Hisako had been able to get her out of it! "Also," he added, "I think you need to help both her and her mother remember what great cooking is truly about, and how it relates to the really important things in life." As Soma looked at him in confusion, Daniel explained, "Think back to some of the things your dad told you...when he wasn't giving you the business." As Soma thought for a few moments, his eyes suddenly lit up as he gave a grin and said, "I think I know what you're saying. I'll do my best to convey that tomorrow."

The next morning, as they began to head out again to the top of the tower, where the final match would be held, Daniel told Soma teasingly, "I'm afraid that you're going to have to do this on your own. I highly doubt either Erina or Mana will allow me to cook with you this time." Soma chuckled as he replied, "Don't worry – I'll be fine. Just leave this to me." As they continued to walk, Soma added, "Still, this doesn't feel quite right with Erina acting the way she is right now. I'll need to do something to snap her out of it and get her to be her old self again." Daniel then responded half-jokingly, "Well…maybe not her old, old self," which got a couple chuckles out of Soma. As they parted ways, Daniel called out to him, "Remember the wisdom your dad gave you, and make sure both Erina and Mana understand." Soma gave Daniel a thumbs up before heading to where the contestants' entrance would be, while the rest headed to the audience reserved area to watch.

As the crowd gathered to witness the final match, Mana announced that she would be serving as the sole judge for the finals, and reminded everyone about the theme for the match – a dish the world has never seen. As Mana called for the match to begin, Soma began to think about what he was going to make before breaking out in a big grin – a big grin that everyone from Polar Star recognized all too well. "I'll bet you anything that he ends up making something weird," Ryoko groaned. "I definitely wouldn't put it past him," Ikumi added. Daniel then commented, "Well, what would you expect? The challenge is to make something the world has never seen. How else can you do that but make something weird."

Meanwhile, Erina was starting to cook, but it didn't look like she had any real sense of direction. In fact, she had a look of hopelessness on her face – one that looked like she didn't even want to be here at all and could possibly have a massive emotional breakdown at any moment. Just when it looked like she might break down right then and there, Soma came up to her station and tasted the sauce she was making. Once he tasted it, he commented on how weak it was, and how this wasn't the person he wanted to do battle against. "What happened to the girl who always gave me the hardest time and was constantly grinding my gears!?"

He then removed his signature white cloth from his wrist and tied it onto his forehead, saying, "I think I know what I'll make. Get ready, Erina! I'm finally going to make a dish that will blow your mind!" He then quickly got to work gathering the ingredients and using several cooking methods to prepare the various elements of the dish. Before everyone knew it, Soma had completed his dish and presented it to Mana for judging. "And what cuisine have you brought for me, Mr. Yukihira?" Mana asked. "It's a tempura rice bowl, with egg as the primary focus," Soma stated.

Both the Polar Star residents' and Erina's eyes widened as they recognized the inspiration for this dish from the time Soma cooked for Erina in his room at the dorm before the trip to Hokkaido and the subsequent battle with Central. Soma being Soma, however, he had taken this dish several steps further since then, as there was also grilled pork beneath the tempura egg, as well as a different type of sauce on top from before. It all came together to create a dish that emphasized Soma's own evolved-style of cuisine – Eggs Benedict Bowl Fit for a Queen. Soma then surprised the audience by presenting his dish not only to Mana, but also to Erina for tasting.

As they both tasted the dish, they were both taken by surprise at the flavors that were hitting their palate. Soma explained that he had used the rice base in place of an English muffin and had used grilled pork in place of Canadian bacon. Next, he had made a Japanese-style hollandaise sauce that was accented with yuzu and shiso paste. Finally, he explained that he had poached the egg first before delicately coating it and frying it. The egg white was perfectly cooked, and the yolk was so runny it was almost raw – threading the needle between undercooked and overcooked absolutely perfectly. Soma then told Erina that he had used the eggs benedict dish she had made during the first-year training camp as an inspiration for the dish. "This dish was uniquely created and focused on the sole purpose of making you say it was delicious," he explained.

Mother and daughter both gasped at this revelation as they began to realize just what Soma was conveying with this dish, as well as how strong he had become. As they continued to eat the dish, Soma asked Erina (in a voice loud enough for everyone, including Mana, to hear), "Isn't there someone specific that you want to cook for? Someone you want to eat your cooking and acknowledge it as good?" Moments later, both women let out gasps of pleasure that created a wave of pure joy and unadulterated warmth. Soon, everybody in the vicinity was feeling what they were feeling, as everybody's clothing just seemed to gently disappear into thin air as they experienced this blissful warmth.

Everybody, that is, except for Daniel. While Soma and the two Nakiri women on the stage remained clothed (as they were the match contestants and judges), Daniel, for some reason, was also able to retain his clothing while the rest of the audience (as well as everyone within the castle grounds) was blissing out in their underwear (or nothing at all). While Daniel was definitely feeling the warm emotional sensation that everyone else was feeling, he was still somewhat aware of his surroundings during this whole time and noticed that he was the only audience member who retained his clothing. As he put his hands inside his front pants pockets to help control his thoughts at that moment, he felt his coin and took it out – and saw that it was glowing. His eyes widened at the sight as he thought, 'Alright, maybe this thing is lucky for real.'

Soon, there was shaking that brought everyone out of their reverie, as the entire side wall of the castle began to collapse. In an astonishing first in the history of the Nakiri family – a gifting wave was so powerful that the side of a building had been stripped bare! This was only achieved because Soma's dish was considered exceptionally delicious by the psyches of the Nakiri women and because their own powers, particularly when combined, were stronger than normal even by Nakiri standards. As the audience began to gather robes to cover themselves and look on in amazement at what Soma had accomplished with his dish, he began to chuckle at Erina and comment, "So, Erina, what do you say? This dish for sure has to be…"

"Disgusting," Erina deadpanned. Not only Mana, but Soma and the rest of the audience just stared in astonishment that Erina would describe the dish that way, with Daniel's jaw just dropping as he shouted, "What!? You can't possibly be serious!" Erina then gathered herself and continued. "At least…it's disgusting compared to what I'm about to make!" She then started to go through various cooking processes in a furious manner as she continued to shout. "Face it, Soma! You're never going to be better than me!" Soma then chuckled and replied, "Man, I think you're going to be riding me for the rest of my life." Erina looked up from her cooking as she responded, "The way I treat you is well-deserved. I will never give in to you!" Soma just grinned and retorted, "And I will never stop trying to make you say that my food is delicious!"

As the crowd got fired up by the banter and by seeing Erina look so fierce in the face of such competition, Hisako came up from behind Daniel and hugged him as she said to him, "Isn't it wonderful? Miss Erina is finally back to being her old self again!" Daniel blushed at being hugged by his girlfriend (who at this point was only wearing a robe and her underwear) while he pinched the bridge of his nose and replied, "I guess so, but did she really have to do all of that without giving Soma any props for his cooking!?" As Erina finished her dish and walked towards Mana to present it for tasting, she and Soma grinned at each other, making it very difficult to tell where their rivalry ended, and where their mutual respect and appreciation for each other began.

A couple of days later, the student-residents of Polar Star dorm were back on campus with all of their friends celebrating all the success the dorm members had during the BLUE competition. Not only had all of them made it to the main tournament, but Megumi and Takumi had both made it to the second round, and Daniel ended up with a Top-8 finish – definitely nothing to thumb your nose at. In addition, Soma had come away as the tournament runner-up, though he was still fuming over it. Erina's dish had just blown both him and Mana away as she walked off with the title while he was left standing in second place.

The discussion at the party then turned to what was happening outside the competition while Soma, Daniel, Megumi, and Takumi were facing off against the Noir chefs. Apparently, Eizan had used his intelligence connections to figure out the time and place of a number of major trades and schemes involving Noir. With the rest of the Council of Ten working together with their resources, as well as bringing in Mimasaka for his unique set of skills, and a few recent graduates as backups, they were not only able to stop these chefs from putting their plans into action, but were also able to capture them and basically put Noir completely out of business. With Asahi leaving the group, and his top lieutenants joining him, Noir could no longer effectively function.

Daniel was relieved at this, thinking that they could all finally have something resembling a normal school life for the remainder of their time at Tostuki. Soma, meanwhile, was impressed, and almost jealous, of what the others had accomplished – namely facing off against all of those chefs. Someone then asked where Erina and Hisako were before Alice piped up that she knew. "Today's the day Auntie Mana is moving back into the Nakiri mansion." Daniel's memory then lit up as he added, "Oh, yeah. Hisako mentioned that she needed to assist Erina with something very important today." In his head, he thought to himself, 'Hopefully, it's another step in repairing their relationship.'

As these discussions were going on, Soma continued to obsess over his loss, as he said to his father (who had joined the festivities with Miss Fumio and Gin), "I didn't achieve my goal of winning the BLUE, so I'm sorry, but I'm not yet ready to take over the restaurant!" Joichiro replied casually, "Nah, you're more than worthy of running it already. I'm proud of you." However, Soma wasn't listening, as he kept going on about how he would work harder, get better, and someday be ready to take over. He then stormed off to his room, still frustrated. On seeing this, Daniel decided to follow him to make sure he was alright.

When Daniel reached Soma's room, he could hear a lot of noise in the form of shuffling items and incomprehensible frustrations being expressed. When he opened the door, he saw Soma packing his suitcase, as though he was going on a long trip. Daniel then asked hesitantly, "Soma? Are you…alright?" Soma looked up and saw Daniel before replying, "Yeah, I'm fine. I've just decided that if I'm going to get better, I need to travel the world like my dad did. I'm going to take some leave for a number of months to do that." Daniel's eyes widened in surprise as he responded, "Woah, there! Don't you think this is a little hasty?"

Soma grinned at Daniel's concern as he stated, "Are you kidding? It's the perfect time to do this! In fact, how about you come with me? We both finished in the Top 8 at the BLUE, so you know we'll both be able to learn from the best chefs the world has to offer. It's the perfect adventure for the two of us!" Daniel had to admit, the prospect of traveling the world with his best friend did have a great appeal to him. However, given everything he had gained at Totsuki and the people he would miss (one in particular), he felt that this just wasn't the right time for him to make this journey.

Daniel shook his head as he calmly explained, "I appreciate the offer, and it is tempting, but there are a lot of things – and people – here at Totsuki that I really don't want to leave right now." He then put his hands on Soma's shoulders as he tried to convince him to change his mind. "Think about it, Soma. What we have here at Totsuki – the way we're able to just enjoy our time and all of the people here – it's never going to be like this again. We should enjoy it all while we have the chance. We can do that worldwide journey together after we graduate if you still want to, but this will never come again."

Soma really seemed to think about what Daniel was saying to him for a minute before he shook his head and said, "I get what you're saying – and you're definitely not wrong. But I've got to go with my gut – and my gut says I've got to make this journey now. It's important that I do this if I'm going to achieve my ultimate goal of making Erina say my food is delicious!" At that last comment, Daniel raised his eyebrow in interest before sighing and asking, "So, there's nothing I can say to you that would change your mind?" Soma shook his head before Daniel gave him a bro hug and stated, "Then I guess the only thing I can do is wish you good luck and good health on your journey. Just stay safe and make sure to drop me a line every now and then while you're gone." Soma grinned and gave Daniel a thumbs up as he exclaimed, "You got it! And don't worry, I'll only be gone for about six months or so."

As he walked downstairs and towards the front door for his bag and cooking tools in tow, Soma called out to Daniel and asked, "By the way, can you let everyone know what I'm doing and tell them goodbye for me? Thanks!" As Daniel processed what Soma had just asked, he tried getting him back there by shouting, "Hey! Wait a minute! Get back here and tell everyone yourself!" However, it was too late as Soma was already out the door and out of sight. Daniel then slapped his forehead and sighed in frustration as he made his way back to the party to let everyone know what Soma was now doing.