Hyouka is the first book of the Kotenbu series, a novel series by Yonezawa Honobu that was first published in Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko in 2001. It's also the title used for the anime adaptation of Kotenbu Series by Kyoto Animation in 2012.
The story follows a severely unmotivated high school freshman named Oreki Houtarou who prefers to "conserve energy" as much as possible. When his older sister asks him to join the Classic Literature club to save it from disbandment, he reluctantly agrees. There he meets Chitanda Eru, who joins at the same time as him. His longtime friend Fukube Satoshi and acquaintance Ibara Mayaka end up joining as well, and together, the group begins to investigate an incident at their school that occurred 44 years ago. Hints of the mystery are buried in an old collection of works previously belonging to the former members of the Classic Literature club. The collection is titled “Hyouka”.
