Marathon

Marathon (マラソン, Marason) is the seventy second chapter of the Nisekoi manga series written and illustrated by Naoshi Komi, published weekly in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump.

Summary
Kyoko announces that marathon day is tomorrow. The class seems unenthusiastic about running, and the guys ask if there will be a prize. Kyoko says that whoever wins the boys' marathon wins a "kiss pass" that they can use on the girl of their choice. Chitoge objects, but Kyoko insists that it be just a small kiss. The boys ponder who they will pick, and Chitoge, Tsugumi, Marika, Moriya, and Kosaki all hear that they will be chosen by some of the boys. Raku becomes determined to not let anyone kiss Kosaki, and vows to finish first. The rest of the boys plan to not let Raku win, since he is already popular with the girls.

On the day of the race, other girls in the class gossip about who will get picked. Chitoge fantasizes about what would happen if Raku won and picked her. The other boys of the class approach Raku, and seem unenthusiastic about the race. Rake notices they look calm, and thinks that he doesn't want to embarrass himself by taking the race and the "kiss pass" too seriously. As the marathon starts, every boy takes off sprinting except for Raku.

Meanwhile, Ruri tells Kosaki that she may get chosen. Ruri thinks to herself that she has to make Raku win, or else she may get chosen by another boy. Meanwhile, Raku is trapped by the "Raku shift", a makeshift wall of runners that block Raku from getting ahead. At this point, it is revealed that Shū has masterminded the plot against Raku, and that he is one of the front-runners who will win the race. Shū explains that he got everyone involved by raffling the "kiss pass" off at the end, so anyone has the possibility for the pass.

Suddenly, the "Raku shift" are all shot at and dispersed by Tsugumi. Tsugumi insists that she is helping only to protect Chitoge, but when she imagines getting kissed by Raku, she almost shoots Raku by mistake. Afterwards, Raku falls into several booby traps set up by Shū and the other boys, including holes in the ground and garbage getting dumped on him. Raku falls to last place again, and becomes even more determined to win.

Character Revelations

 * Chitoge is able to keep up easily with Raku while he runs.

Trivia

 * All the boys conspire against Raku since he is always surrounded by an entourage of girls
 * Marika gives Raku honey-dipped lemons, which are supposed to be used to revitalize people during exercise
 * Tsugumi shoots the boys with what appears to be rubber bullets.