Hachiman Hikigaya may be in a club with two hot girls, but this isn't going to turn into a rom-com. He may have given out his number, but his phone will remain untexted. Besides, the only true cutie around here? Yeah, it's a guy. Hachiman the loser, Yukino the ice queen, and Yui the bimbo have to find some way to put the "service" back in "Service Club"--but so far they've scored zero points in the game of high school life.

Hachiman Hikigaya is a cynic. He believes "youth" is a crock-a sucker's game, an illusion woven from failure and hypocrisy. Unsurprisingly, he's not the most popular guy. Meanwhile, there's Yukino Yukinoshita-brilliant, beautiful, and chillier than winter in Antarctica. Would you believe she's not exactly beloved by her classmates either? The unlikely pair gets forced into a club dedicated to helping solve their fellow students' problems. But will an ice queen and a screwup really be able to help anybody?

Thanks to interference from Yukino’s mom, Yukino and Yui’s plans for a Soubu High prom face ruin. But Hachiman has an idea: What if he were to devise a fake prom plan to make the girls’ version look better and disguise his scam as a genuine proposal? Of course, there’s no guarantee this delightfully devilish scheme will work, which is why Hachiman will need all the help he can get...

The start of winter brings trying times for Hachiman. There’s Iroha’s selfish request for a “date,” his little sis Komachi’s insistence on an overcrowded New Year’s shrine visit, and Yukino’s birthday on the horizon. Just as Hachiman and Yui are out shopping for the right gift, a chance meeting with Yukino’s sister, Haruno, lands them in a social minefield—one fraught with awkward family ties and a history everyone is reluctant to get in to.

Planning for the Soubu High prom continues, and Yukino is steadfast about working without Hachiman and Yui. But when she receives complaints from parents worried about moral impropriety, it might just put the kibosh on everything. Even worse-the parents’ representative is Yukino’s mother, whose disarming social grace makes negotiating all but futile! Can Hachiman help without going back on his word to Yukino? And as he spends more time with Yui, where will his feelings take him?

Soubu High’s queen bee, Yumiko, has come to the Service Club with a forlorn expression and a request: Find out Hayama’s plans for his educational track. Now it’s up to Hachiman to deduce the truth, and he’s well aware that cracking the flawless facade of the most popular guy in school is no small feat. But the attempt may just lead to some revelations—about Hayama, himself, and the weight of expectations.

Hachiman Hikigaya is a cynic. "Youth" is a crock, he believes--a sucker's game, an illusion woven from failure and hypocrisy. But when he turns in an essay for a school assignment espousing this view, he's sentenced to work in the Service Club, an organization dedicated to helping students with problems in their lives! How will Hachiman the Cynic cope with a job that requires--gasp!--optimism?