Story

Haruhi Fujioka is a scholarship student at Ouran High School, a fictional school located in Bunkyo, Tokyo. Because of the superlative cost of the school uniform, Haruhi resorts to wearing trousers, polo shirts and sweaters. Combined with her large glasses and tousled short hair, Haruhi's look causes her to be confused for a boy.

Looking for a quiet place to study, Haruhi stumbles upon the Third Music Room, the working place of the Ouran Host Club, a group of six attractive male students (Takashi "Mori", Mitsukuni "Hunny", Kaoru and Hikaru, Tamaki, and Kyoya) who spend their time charming and entertaining the school's girls for profit. During their first meeting, Haruhi accidentally knocks over a vase valued at ¥8,000,000, estimated to be $80,000.

In order to pay off the large debt, Haruhi is employed as the club's "dog" and constantly ordered to do menial tasks like serving food or cleaning up. The Club president, without knowing she is really a girl, promotes Haruhi to "host" as soon as he discovers her potential. Even after the truth comes out in the Club, Haruhi continues the charade and is allowed to pay off the rest of her debt working as a host; provided she conceals her true identity/gender from the customers.

The Ouran Private Academy encompasses kindergarten to twelfth grade. Most students come from wealthy families but, in rare occasions, special scholarships are granted to students from a lower income bracket. The school's unofficial motto is "Lineage counts first, wealth a close second," meaning students with stellar family backgrounds are given top priority over those from rich families but low social status.