A French operetta troupe is in Manila. The friars and Don Custodio were against it, but the Captain-General supported the troupe, so they’re allowed to perform Les cloches de Corneville. The build-up to the first show is immense. An eccentric Spanish man known as Boiled Shrimp walks around and overhears Simoun’s plan—in which “The signal is a single gunshot” (187). The narrator then focuses on Tadeo and a first-year student observing the arrival of various patrons. Eventually, Makaraig and some others arrive and offer Tadeo and the other student tickets to the show because Basilio was unable to make it. Tadeo goes, but the other student doesn’t.

The audience for Les cloches de Corneville awaits the raising of the curtain. Juanito Peláez is at the show with Paulita, which makes Isagani upset (as Paulita is his love). Juanito ingratiates himself with Doña Victorina by making it appear he understands everything in the operetta (it’s in French, which he doesn’t speak). After the first act is over, Makaraig speaks with Don Custodio. He returns to his group, crestfallen. The Castilian Academy has been approved but with a major caveat: It won’t be a part of the university, and the students are to collect money for its establishment.