"It is what it is. A bunch of stuff happened and now Hayama's with central." Soma is calling to Alice, as the girl is very angry, "What in the world? Why? He worked with me during the Moon Banquet Festival! Don't he? Why would he go over to the enemies' side?"

"It is a long story, so let me guess, you guys are matched up against the Elite 10 members, too, eh?" Soma asks.

"Yeah. Both Ryo and I were actually just about to head over to the match arena." Alice says. "Geesh! I've got to give Hayama-kun a stern talking to. Gotta scold him for forgetting everything he learned as part of my team, the white coat three!"

"I see, you definitely should. They're telling us to hurry now, I'll call you back." Soma says as he ends the call. Soma sighs and he says, "Not everyone is just like me, they won't be able to defeat the Elite 10..."

Kuga asks, "So? What are you planning then?"

Soma says, "A lot of things, but first, I'm planning to beat Hayama."

On the day of the match, Soma and Hayama are prepared at the station, until Soma hears, "It's Soma-Nii chan!"

Soma notices the two people and he says, "Sheila! Bertha! What are you two doing here?"

"Yukihira-chin, you know these two?" Kuga asks, and Dojima says, "The girls are Leonora-dono's underlings. They will be the judges, and the head judge is..."

"Oh! It's Nassan!" The girls exclaim, and Dojima adds, "The man who founded Totsuki's research division, Nakiri International! At present, he leaves management of the organization to his wife, Leonora-dono, and oversees negotiations and the formation of contractual obligations with external organizations. Nakiri Soe."

"Uncle Soe?" Soma gasps in surprise.

"Good to see you again, Soma-kun. It sure has been a while." Soe says to Soma, who nods back.

"Wait, these girls are still just kids! Can they even judge?" Kuga retorts, only to be called Midget and being pinched by the two girls.

Soma says, "I know for sure that they're good with the knowledge of Cerebrophyistology and the gustatory senses. But Noe-san, even though we are distant relatives, surely you judge this fairly, right?"

"Of course, even if this match were to feature my daughter Alice herself, I would still be fair and equal. Even if it meant that Alice had to suffer defeat. Because win or lose, Alice is still the cutest girl in the world. Wait a minute, Leonora's also the cutest girl in the world. The loveliness of these two will forever be the one mystery of the years of my research."

Soma sweatdrops a little as he almost forgot how passionate he is for his wife and daughter.

After showing the bear meat that Hayama and Soma are using, they begin cooking their meals. Hayama takes the Roast meat and he is going to fry it, much to everyone's surprise.

"A storied famous dish that has its origins in the American south...Fried Chicken. I'll be making a version of that dish fit for central today." Hayama replies.

"Damn, Daniel should have come to see this." Fujiwara says. "Fried bear, huh..."

They all know for sure that Hayama is going in for a super close-quarters battle. As for Soma, he is also going to do fried food, but he is going for the mincemeat Katsu. And when Hayama is preparing the sauce, both Sheila and Bertha decide to try some, and they feel like they have become his pets after tasting it.

"What a fearsome chef...those innocent girls were subjugated by just his sauce..." Qiu says after seeing the two girls who are sweating.

"This sure might be hard for Soma-kun after all." Fujiwara says.

"Come on, let's just sit and watch. I've got a feeling he's going to do something pretty amazing soon." Kuga says with confidence.

Soma is now frying the meat and then putting it into the dish, and Soma becomes the first one to finish his dish.

"Now then, judges, here you have my best bear meat dish. Enjoy." Soma says.

The girls are a little hesitating because it is made of bear, but Soe decides to take the initiative as he bites into the dish. And after tasting the dish, they all feel the dish is quite good.

Soe says, "He walked the incredibly thin line between deliciousness and stink expertly. The gamble he engaged in goes far beyond what any of us were imagining."

The others are confused, as he asks Soma, "Yukihira Soma, you without fear, made abundant use of the meat nearest to the bones of the bear, didn't you?"

The others are surprised as the meat closer to the bones has more stink, but Soma manages to push his limit to make this dish.

"Soma Nii-chan! Why were you so reckless?" Bertha asks.

"Well...I need to be that reckless if I want to beat Hayama. Of course, I'm gonna go in with no regard for life or limb. That's where all the possibilities for deliciousness are! Also, to be honest, I managed to get my hands on a bunch of bear meat. That allowed me to continue testing recipes up until now, which was a big part of all of this. Besides. I've made mincemeat Katsu before at my diner back home. I have enough experience with the process to understand the intuition-based stuff."

And Soe manages to get his clothes stripped just like his father Senzaemon, something that Soma wants to see. But when Hayam presents his dish, Soma knows that there's no telling which way the match'll go.

And when the judges taste the meat, they can't stop eating as every last drop of the bear stink has transformed into a formidable deliciousness. An intricately constructed multilayered tower of flavor and impact. The dish also surpasses Yukihira Soma's dish.

"No way...does that mean Soma's expulsion is basically inevitable at this point?" The others are frowning at the thought, Soma says, "True, I admit that Hayama's dish is good, but to say this is the end, it is far from it."

Soe says, "Indeed. All we've done is taste these fried foods alone. We have yet to try them with their accompanying sauces."

Soma nods and says, "You will soon realize why I am the Phantom. Because I am not going to lose."

"I thought you suffered a knockout by loss of self-confidence, but I guess anything persistence is the only thing you've got in spades." Hayama says.

"Couldn't you just call me tough? Anyway, the real judging begins now." Soma says.

They try out Hayama's sauce first, and it causes Soe's clothes to burst, but when they taste Soma's sauce, instead of bursting clothes, Soe is bestowing the stripping as both Sheila and Bertha's clothes are stripped.

"The secrets behind this deliciousness are surely honey and balsamic vinegar, right?" Soe asks.

"Yep. That slight hint of sweetness gives the sauce a deep body! And the astringency of the vinegar contracts and binds the sauce's flavor, giving it a honed edge!" Soma says.

Hayama notices that something is not right, and he realizes that Soma caramelized the honey, and that made the aftertaste strong. Then he realizes Soma was doing what he did in the Autumn Elections.

"I can't but say that Yukihira Soma has demonstrated that he has the upper hand with the sauce." Soe says.

And now it is time for the verdict, and both Sheila and Bertha pick Soma and Hayama respectively, so the final vote goes for Soe.

"In terms of taste, this battle was evenly matched. The fact that Bertha and Sheila's votes split is also proof of this. If there is to be anything that separates the winner from the loser in this battle, it will be the tenacity demonstrated in each dish. Yukihira Soma, the honey you used in the sauce is not your average sort, is it?"

"Well spotted, it's amur cork honey." Soma says.

"You could have easily drawn out the rich, mellow flavor of the bear meat with any other honey, but if that flavor were to overlap with the strong punch of the mincemeat katsu, the entire dish's taste would have been thrown off. And that's where the amur cork honey comes in. That slight bitterness and faint astringency compliment the bear meat well...I would go as far as to call the pairing miraculous."

And the others are confused as to why Soma will come up with this decision, and Kuga says, "I've been done in by this before, but whenever Yukihira can't seem to find a satisfying answer, he won't rest until he finds it."

"In this dish, I see a deep unwavering desire to push further, to explore even more...a fiery tenacity to create! In this dish, I see the face of a chef." Soe says.

Hayama is surprised, and Dojima decides to tell him that he lost that desire to want someone to call this delicious. Yukihira Soma also adds that he wants to have Hayama say his dish is delicious, that's what makes him keep going.

He also serves his dish to Hayama, and after tasting it, he feels the passion and the perseverance Soma poured into the dish.

At the same time, Shiomi Jun arrives as Hayama asks, "What? Jun? What are you doing here?"

"We've invited her as a fellow Polar Star Dorm member." Fujiwara says.

"We thought she at least deserved to see this match to its conclusion." Qiu adds.

And then Jun slaps Hayama hard as he falls to the ground, telling him that he doesn't need to be responsible for what he did. All she wants is to see Hayama enjoying cooking, which causes Hayama to be surprised.

"I shall proceed with the judging, and with this final vote, the winner is Yukihira Soma!" Soma says.

"It wasn't much." Soma says as everyone is now cheering for his victory. Soma is about to ask if Hayama will come to the Polar Star Dorm once this is over, but Hayama just says, "Thank you, Yukihira. You've just saved me."

Soma is confused, but when Erina rushes to find Soma, Hayama and Shiomi, they also hear from Azami-s aide that all the other members, including Hayama Akira, are being expelled from school.

"Sure you wanna be worrying that much about what happened on the other routes?" Rindo also arrives, and she says, "Aldini and Tadokoro-chan went up against me for their third-phase exams, you know."

Soma and Erina are shocked as they rush to find the two of them, only to find that they passed because Rindo holds back on them by having her say delicious on their food.

After explaining everything to them, Takumi says, "I see, so every other rebel member besides us has been expelled. And they expect me to just take this lying down? Somewhere out of our sight, somewhere we can't do anything about it, they just eliminate our friends and we can't do anything but sit idly by?"

Soma sighs, "Even though I've already known about this, but Tsukasa and Rindo told me that they are not using any dirty tricks for the match."

"Well, you're right, but even so! What are you trying to say? Whose side are you on?" Takumi asks.

"As you can see, the Elite 10 of Totsuki can do just about anything they want inside the school right? And I can confidently say that none of the members have managed to get a win from me, except for Eri-chan, since we have never battled before."

Erina asks, "So what are you going to talk about?"

Soma says, "What I mean is that, if we can just get those seats, we can overturn everything. Expulsions, and all."

"Don't tell me that you mean..." Erina gasps.

"To take away a majority of the Elite 10 seats?" Megumi asks.

Soma nods and says, "Even if it is only me, I am going to fight for 4 of the seats."

And this ends the battle with Hayama. Now in the next chapter, it will be a long chapter of the preparation of the Regimine de Cuisine. I hope you like this chapter.