As Daniel got up the next morning and made his way to the bathroom on the train car, he ran into Megumi, who looked like she had barely slept the night before – she said it was because she was so nervous about facing one of the Council members, which Daniel could definitely understand. When they got to the bathroom area, they saw Soma and Takumi already there, both of whom also looked like they hadn't slept the night before. They, however, were too excited about facing the Council to sleep. As they were laughing in anticipation, Daniel deadpanned, "You're both nuts."
After arriving at the station, the five rebels on this particular path were bussed to a nearby luxury resort, where the next exam would be held. When they got there, they were led to the open patio, where Rindo was waiting for them, as well as a nice breakfast spread. After getting some food in their stomachs, they began to ask Rindo exactly what they should expect for the next exam. In other words, how long would they have to prepare, and whom would they each be facing. Soma then asked, "Are we going up against you, chef Rindo?" Rindo just grinned and replied, "Sorry, Soma, but I won't be your opponent. Your opponent is right over there." She was pointing towards a balcony as she said this, and when everyone's attention turned to where she was pointing, they were stunned – standing on the balcony was Akira Hayama wearing a Central badge on his jacket!
As Rindo confirmed what they were seeing, she told them that Akira was now provisionally the number nine seat of the Council. At first, Soma tried to tease him, stating that it couldn't really be a Central badge he was wearing before Akira declared that he had now far surpassed all of them and would be the one to end Soma's time at Totsuki. The group of rebels then growled as Soma shouted, "What the hell, man!? What's going on, here!? What happened to the Shiomi Seminar!?" When Akira informed them that the seminar was no more – that it didn't align with Central's plans, the rebels couldn't believe what they were hearing. "You traitor!" Daniel shouted. "How could you do that to Professor Shiomi!?" Soma then added, "Didn't Professor Shiomi or the seminar mean anything to you!?" Akira then replied, "This is but a steppingstone on my journey to the top of the culinary world – and I'm doing all of this for Jun's sake."
The rebels didn't understand what he meant by that – all they could see was someone they thought was their friend turn his back on them and his mentor. Rindo then broke up the group conversation by having several men in suits come onto the balcony. A couple of them surrounded Erina, as they led her away from the rest of the group and to the area of the resort where she would be taking her next exam. Some of the other suits then led Daniel, Takumi, and Megumi away, as their exams would be conducted separately from Soma and Erina.
When they were finally released in another area of the resort, Daniel was still visibly fuming at the turn of events – to think that Akira would go Benedict Arnold on them! He had not seen that coming. Now Soma was faced with a situation where he needed to beat an old rival he hadn't yet been able to beat in order to pass the exam and stay in Totsuki. However, if he did win, Daniel suspected that the administration would expel Akira for failing to put down the rebels. Worse yet, he, Takumi, and Megumi were now separated from Soma and Erina, and were not allowed to interact in person with them until after the exam.
Over the next couple of days, Daniel found that he was able to contact Soma via cell phone, as well as the other rebels who had been sent off on other paths. Daniel learned that Gin Dojima was also there, as a neutral observer, who had revealed that the theme for his food war with Akira would be bear meat. Soma even told Daniel about the difficulties he was having in taming the meat's smell – something that was right up Akira's alley, no less. Daniel tried to cheer up his friend the best way he knew how. "It sounds like a really grizzly situation," he said jokingly. Picking up on what Daniel was trying to do, Soma replied, "Yeah, it's really been un-bear-able at times." Daniel could practically hear the grin on Soma's face as he said that. Daniel just chuckled and stated, "Just make sure you have all of your bear necessities." The two friends then just laughed at their banter.
(Sees a couple of rotten tomatoes being tossed from the audience) … Alright, already! I'm going!
As they were laughing, Daniel then heard another voice in the background yelling at Soma about the jokes. "Who's there with you, man?" Soma then explained that Kuga had shown up with a bunch of his underlings from the Chinese Cuisine Research Society, and that they were actually helping him to prepare for the battle with Akira. 'Well, I'll be damned,' Daniel thought to himself before commenting, "At least you got yourself some good help, there. That's more than Takumi, Megumi, and I are getting over here." They chatted for a few more minutes before wishing each other luck and hanging up.
Over the next couple of days before the exam took place, Daniel got in contact with the rest of the rebels (Hisako in particular, both to talk strategy, and so they could give each other emotional support and reassurance) and apprised them of their situation, as well as asking what they were facing. It seemed that Soma was the only one of them who had been assigned a specific theme ingredient – or any other type of theme for that matter. This meant that they would at least have a wide berth in deciding what to make for their challenge. This was a bit of a problem for Daniel, because while he had advised everyone to use their special recipes if possible, Daniel had already used his for the Straggler Hunt battle against chef Momo. This meant he would have to come up with another option that he knew he could make in the allotted time, but hadn't been seen by anyone at Totsuki yet.
Daniel eventually decided to make desserts he had created for chef Mizuhara's restaurant during his Stagiaire, as no other students had seen them before, and they were original enough for this type of situation. Specifically, he decided to make the ube custard tiramisu and the matcha biscotti, as he felt they would go together. After making sure he would have all the ingredients he would need to make the dishes during the exam, he got to work on making sure he could make them well enough and quickly enough for the exam, having Takumi and Megumi test them. Takumi, in particular was impressed with the unique flavor combinations he came up with for the tiramisu.
On the day of the exam, the three of them waited together anxiously in one of the resort kitchens to see who they would be facing. As Daniel grasped his coin in his coat pocket, Chef Rindo walked in and announced that, "The member of the Ten you will be going up against is chef me!" Knowing how good she was by reputation, the three of them were a bit more nervous as they began to cook. A couple of hours later, they each had finished their dishes, and held them on service plates in their hands, waiting to present them to someone.
Rindo called Takumi up first, who approached her with trepidation. Rindo then took out some utensils, tried Takumi's dish, and exclaimed, "Yum! That was delish! You pass!" As Takumi looked on in surprise and confusion, Rindo turned to Megumi and said, "Alright, Megumi – it's your turn." As Megumi approached nervously, Rindo tasted her dish and exclaimed, "Yummy! You pass, too!" Rindo then turned to Daniel and stated, "I'm guessing you made a dessert, so I saved you for last." Daniel then approached cautiously before handing Rindo a spoon, which she used to dig into the tiramisu. After doing that and taking a bite from the biscotti, she exclaimed, "That was awesome! You passed as well!" As the three of them looked at Rindo with even more confusion, Daniel asked, "Wait…that's it?" As she began to leave the room, Rindo turned to the trio and said, "I never said you would have to fight me in a food war. For this exam, all you had to do was make a dish that made me say 'Delish.'"
As the three of them began to clean up, they were still in shock (and relief) at how relatively easy that was. The door then suddenly burst open with Erina coming through in a panic and out of breath, with Soma following behind her in a calmer manner. After Soma revealed that he had beaten Akira in his food battle, much to the joy and relief of the others, Erina asked what had happened with the other three. They then explained what had just happened with chef Rindo, which surprised both Erina and Soma. "That chef Rindo is really a strange one," Soma commented. Daniel nodded and added, "Yeah, we got lucky on that one." Erina then stated, "I'm glad at least you managed to make it through." Takumi raised his eyebrows as he asked, "What do you mean by that?"
Erina had the unenviable task of telling everyone about how she had been informed that all of the other rebels on the other paths – all of their friends – had lost their battles and been expelled. Soma then told them that Akira had been expelled as well for his failure to win their food war, which is what Daniel suspected would happen, but still stung to actually hear. All of them felt like they had been punched in the gut at that moment – hurt and angry at losing their dear friends and the people at Totsuki who meant the most to them. Takumi and Daniel each pounded their fists against the counter in anger (Takumi for Isami's sake, and Daniel for Hisako's, though he imagined Erina felt about the same as he did). All of this because they dared to think differently.
The situation was now quite dire. While the five of them had survived, the rest of their band of rebels had been expelled and there were still several exams left to get through. Not only would it be even more difficult to get through them than it had been so far, but they had to wonder whether it was worth it without the others. As they contemplated what to do next, Soma came up with the idea of trying to get seats on the council themselves so that they could overturn everything, including their friends' expulsions. As Daniel tried to point out how they had pretty much no way of making that possible (since there was pretty much no way the Council members would ever accept their challenge at this point), Erina ran off in an attempt to talk to her father to beg him to reinstate their friends. Seeing that this, too, would be exceedingly unlikely to happen and probably a waste of energy, the others soon ran after her.
When they caught up to Erina, she was on the roof pleading with her father, as he turned away coldly and began to board his helicopter. Unsurprisingly, Erina's pleas had fallen on deaf ears, and no reprieve would be given. Soma then put his hand on Erina's shoulder as she was slumped down in despair before shouting to Azami, "Enough of your stupid tricks! You say that your way is the only way, but what you've done with these tests so far doesn't seem very correct. If you're so sure that you're right, you should have no problem accepting our challenge to you. We'll put up our skills against your Council of Ten for all of the seats!" Azami just chuckled at Soma's impudence, explaining that he didn't have to even recognize Soma's challenge, as his plans were already 90 percent complete, with just the finishing touches left to take care of.
At this, Daniel decided to chime in. "You're afraid of us, aren't you!?" This got Azami's attention as he turned back towards Daniel's voice. "You're afraid that we'll be able to show that your entire philosophy about the culinary world is wrong – you coward!" Before Azami could respond, a couple of unexpected figures showed upon the rooftop – one of whom Azami hadn't seen in many years. "You know, Soma's idea isn't without merit!" Joichiro shouted, with Azami looking on in shock and Senzaemon also there, standing right behind everyone. After Joichiro greeted a shocked Erina and an annoyed Soma, he suggested that they do "the thing" they had talked about years ago – a regimental food war. Although shocked at seeing his old dorm mate, Azami still questioned why he should even consider it.
Joichiro then dropped a bombshell as he offered up himself as a prize if the rebels lost – specifically he would give up his own ideals to serve under Azami and Central, and close down Yukihira permanently. Everyone was shocked by his offer, which Azami accepted, as it was too good for him to pass up. As he exited, he stated how he was looking forward to having Joichiro serve under him. He then boarded the helicopter, with the hatch closing right behind him before it took off into the darkening sky.
Joichiro then began to chuckle and greet everyone there as if nothing had happened. Daniel then exclaimed, "Are you out of your mind!? Why would you gamble something like that so casually!?" Joichiro turned to him and explained, "It was the only way that we could ensure that we could set this up for you." As the five rebels looked at him incredulously, Senzaemon interrupted the silence. "Come, everyone. There is much to do to prepare for the challenge that awaits." As he said this, everyone followed him and Joichiro to the train station, where the luxury train, as well as chef Dojima, awaited to transport them north to the final battle with Central.
As they gathered in one of the dining cars that evening, Joichiro revealed that he had been planning this for some time with Gin and Senzaemon. Gin then apologized for using them and keeping them in the dark on it, to which Takumi stated that there was no need, as without them, the opportunity to battle the Council of Ten wouldn't have been possible. However, Daniel was still very wary about the massive risk Joichiro had taken in putting himself up as a prize in all of this. "I understand that it was the only thing you could think of to get Azami to take the bait, and it's not as though I don't have faith in you, but I'm just wary of gambling something that massive in any situation." Joichiro just chuckled and said, "I appreciate the concern, but trust us – you'll be fine once we've trained you to face the Ten."