Original Air Date: May 7, 2018
Soma finds out why Akira joined Central before their match.
This episode provides examples of:
- Blackmail: Doujima tells Soma and Kuga that Azami forced Akira into joining Central by cutting their corporate partnerships and holding hostage the data from years of Jun's research. Even when Jun herself told Akira to not give in, he still took Azami's offer to protect her work.
- Doting Parent: Soe Nakiri is very devoted to his wife and daughter, dropping immediately his serious attitude when looking at photos of Alice and Leonora.
- Everyone Has Standards: After learning about Akira being blackmailed with Jun's work on the line, Kuga gets really angry in behalf of Hayama, despite his usual cynic attitude.
- Impossibly Delicious Food:
- Just a taste of the Juniper honey from Akira's dish is enough for Berta and Cilla to feel like domesticated bear cubs.
- Soma's Mincemeat Katsu takes advantage of the combination of the bear's umami and the berries.
- Ineffectual Loner: It never crossed Akira's mind to even talk to Soma, Ryou or Alice about his situation, since he still didn't consider them his friends. Akira's antisocial tendencies turned out to be his Fatal Flaw, since without Jun, he basically didn't have anyone to rely on.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After learning about the blackmail, Soma looks for Akira everywhere, but instead of sympathizing with him, Soma instead chews him out for not considering fighting to protect the seminar like the others did, and the fact that Akira only sees this rematch as a Central duty instead of a worthy fight between them, is enough for him to downright call Akira a coward to his face.
- Undying Loyalty: Azami used Akira's love for Jun to force him into joining Central.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: After learning Akira's motivations for joining Central, Soma barely has time to put on pants and the uniform jacket without the shirt, and bolts looking for Akira in every corner of the resort just to give him a big What the Hell, Hero?. He finds him on the rooftop, where it's freezing cold, but Soma is too angry to care or notice.
