The Return of the Time-Honored Classic Lit Club

Apathetic high school student Houtarou Oreki joins his school's Classic Literature Club upon his sister's request. He expects to be the club's only member. However, he soon learns that the club already has one member: The ever-curious girl named Eru Chitanda.

Plot
"Everyone wants to make high school a life full of good memories." This phrase that many high school students believe in does not apply for Houtarou Oreki. Entering his high school life, he had no interest in "wasting" the energy to explore relationships or sports. Instead, he wished to "conserve" energy and live a low-profile life in high school. The only exception he accepts is the request by his elder sister: "Enter the Classic Lit Club. It has no members this year, so it will be closed down if no one enlists." However, Houtarou doesn't hate using a little bit of energy. Actually, he respects those who live such an energy filled life. The reason he does not live this life is his desire not to stand out, and instead goes on with life in "loneliness".

But his life was changed when he goes to the specified Classic Lit Club. Even though he expects no one to be part of the club, when he enters its club room, a girl is standing at the window of the room. The girl, once she notices Houtarou, approaches him, asking if the room she is in is the Classic Lit Club.

Locked Room Case
Eru went to the Classic Lit Club room to introduce herself to the members; not knowing that she is the only current member. 3 minutes later, Houtarou came to the before mentioned club room to check it out, but finds it locked. Eru has no recollection of locking the door after she entered, yet it was locked when Houtarou attempted to get in. What happened during the interval of Eru entering the club room and Houtarou arriving there?

Solution: Before Houtarou arrived at the club room, he passed by the school janitor. The only keys that can be used to lock the club room are: the student key, which Houtarou was in hold of, and the master key, which is in the possession of the janitor. Taking this into consideration, Houtarou concluded that the janitor had finished his maintenance job upstairs. The janitor, after taking care of a set of rooms, would lock all the doors and go onto the next set. Eru just so happened to enter one of these unlocked rooms (the Classic Lit Club room) while the janitor is finishing the other rooms, and Eru ended up getting locked inside after the janitor finished all the rooms of the said floor.

Mysterious Club Case
There is a mysterious club that is outside the supervision of the student council known as 'Silk Spider'. Every year, an unauthorised recruitment poster appears on the student club recruitment wall, one that does not belong to any club. While it secretly recruits members, even though its activities are unknown, there has been proof that it is still active. Even when the student council acted, they still couldn't find this group, yet at the end of the year, one of the graduating students said he was the president of the said club. Where would this year's recruitment poster be?

Solution: Most would think that secret recruitment poster will be placed in a remote location. This is not true. In order to get recruits, the poster has to be on the recruitment wall that is seen the most commonly, especially by the new students: the front entrance wall. With so many posters, the Mysterious club's poster would blend in easily. If one is clever enough to run a secret club, then one should try to outwit people in a more dignified way. This "way" is by hiding the small poster behind another. It's obvious yet it is not easily found. But in the end, this so-called mystery was just set up by Houtarou in order to try to avoid Eru knowing about the Ghost in the Music Room Case.

Ghost in the Music Room Case
On a rainy afternoon, a girl was walking through the corridors of the school. Suddenly, she heard the beautiful piano piece  being played. The playing seemed to come from the music room. She went over to the door and opened it, yet when she did, the music stopped. The room was dark, as the curtains had been drawn shut. Though the piano's lid was open, no one was sitting there. The girl looked around, and from the floor in the middle of the room, a ghostly girl emerged. The "ghost" had long and messy hair that covered her face, a body that limped, and had blood-red eyes. Who is this "ghost"?

Solution: The "ghost" is a pianist of the music club. All tired from practising, she drew the curtains shut and set the CD player to play the Moonlight Sonata right before the school would close up at 6 PM after doing this, she then took a nap. The girl only seemed to look like a ghost due to having messy hair and a droopy body, for she had just woken up. Her eyes were bloodshot, not blood-red, from all the tiredness and sleeping.

Trivia

 * This episode is adaptation of Ch. 2 "The Rebirth of the Traditional Classics Club " from and Ch. 1 "If I Have to Do It, Make It Quick" from, and it's the only episode which is based on chapters from two books simultaneously.
 * The classroom doors can be locked from inside in the anime, contrary to what is seen in the novel series. As stated in “The Rebirth of the Traditional Classics Club” in, “the school prevents doors from being locked from inside to keep students from engaging in suspicious activities”.