Raising the Curtain

Raising the Curtain (カイエン, Kaien) is the forty-eighth chapter of the Nisekoi manga series written and illustrated by Naoshi Komi, published weekly in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump.

Summary
The day of the school's cultural festival finally arrives and Raku's class is nervous for their play. Kosaki tells Raku that they do their best for the play. Raku then thinks about Chitoge and their fight and wonders what he's supposed to do but tries to forget about it to focus on the play. Kosaki also thinks about Raku and wonders if Chitoge will come see the play. Meanwhile, a group of students ask for Chitoge's help in their class.

As Kosaki becomes nervous after seeing the crowd, she notices a student trying to hang a curtain on a ladder but slips in the process. Kosaki is able to save her but sprains her ankle which makes her unable to walk. Kyoko asks for Marika because she's the understudy, but she was absent because of a cold. Althoigh Kosaki insists to play Juliet, Kyoko tells her that she needs some rest and tells Raku to stay and comfort Kosaki but as he does, Kosaki tells him that she feels bad because she may be the cause for the cancel of the play and that everyone's hard work will go to waste.

Raku tells her that the play won't be cancelled as he runs off. Meanwhile, Chitoge cooks pancakes at a classroom and starts thinking about Raku, their fight, and their talk at the beach and wonders why she said all those things to him. Raku then shows up and grabs her hand, asking her to play as Juliet in Kosaki's place.

He brings her outside and explains the situation to her and that she is the only one left to play the role. She tells him that she doesn't even know the lines for the play but Raku tells her that he knows that she doesn't like him and that he feels they'll somehow be able to pull the play off. Chitoge asks what's going on with and reminds him the things he said to her at the beach and that he doesn't have to deny that he hates her.

Raku then realizes that Chitoge was hurt by the words he said to her at the beach and that she has been angry about it the whole time. He then tells her that he didn't know that what he said at the beach had hurt her and that despite everything he said to her at the beach was somewhat true, he doesn't hate her. Chitoge is able to understand and agrees to play Juliet. Raku then comes into the theatre to tell everyone that they had found their Juliet and quickly gets Chitoge into her costume. Kosaki smiles and sees that the two have finally made up and are back to normal.

Trivia

 * This chapter was adopted into an episode for The Play (episode).