Complex sentence: He recently was forced to join the Acting Club and was initially paired with Ibuki to play the main hero and heroine of a love-play, but Ayame took over Ibuki's role afterwards so she could get closer to Yoichi.
Split into simpler sentences: He recently was forced to join the Acting Club, and was initially paired with Ibuki to play the main hero and heroine of a love-play. But Ayame took over Ibuki's role afterwards, so she could get closer to Yoichi.