Suneater: Origins

"Lemillion to save a million!"

Mirio and Tamaki were enjoying a pleasant afternoon at the park. They had stopped at an ice cream truck on their way home from school, and after they finished their treats, Mirio was suddenly struck with inspiration to practice some hero poses and catchphrases. Tamaki sat on a nearby bench, happily watching his best friend as he leapt about and shouted various Lemillion puns at the sky. Maybe he was hopped up on sugar, maybe his misshapen All Might popsicle with gumball eyes had somehow sparked a few ideas, or maybe he was just being his regular old enthusiastic self—either way, he was certainly putting his heart into it. In fact, he'd been at it for an hour or two now, and the sun was close to setting.

"Ooh, how about this one? Okay, pretend this is a wall..." Mirio held his bookbag in front of his face. "You know what they say—when life gives you... Lemillion!" he boomed, thrusting his face through the bookbag.

Tamaki chuckled. "That's a good one, Mirio."

"You think so?" Mirio beamed as he lowered his bookbag. His smile changed to a look of confusion as he realized his ponytail had come loose, and he looked down to see his hairband in the grass. "Ah, dang it, not again," he muttered, bending down to pick it up.

Mirio... he's so cool, Tamaki thought to himself, looking on as Mirio jumped straight back into posing after putting his hair back up. He's already got the makings of a great hero... and he's got a really clever hero name to boot!

"The man with the strength of... Lemillion men!" Mirio announced with gusto, putting his hands on his hips. He paused for a moment, then rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, maybe that one's a bit much..."

Tamaki smirked. "You don't always have to introduce yourself with a pun, you know."

"But I like puns!" Mirio flashed a cheeky grin.

Tamaki smiled softly at his friend, who seemed to have boundless energy, even after all the time he had spent posing and cracking jokes. He was impressed with how many puns Mirio was able to make with his hero name—heck, the name itself was several puns rolled into one! He knew he'd have to choose a name for himself pretty soon, since it wouldn't be long before he'd be applying to a hero school, but he was quite sure he'd never be able to come up with anything even half as good as Lemillion. In fact, he was having a hard time coming up with anything at all...

So many of my classmates have known what their hero names would be since they were little. Tamaki's smile faded, his eyes wandering to the grass beneath his feet. But here I am in middle school, and the only name I can think of is... Eater... That's such a lame name!

Tamaki sighed. He glanced up briefly at Mirio, who was still enthusiastically posing. I wish I was good at coming up with names like Mirio... he's so good at everything. His gaze dropped downward yet again, a wave of self-doubt washing over him. At this rate, I don't know if I'll ever be able to come up with a good hero name before—

Tamaki's thoughts were interrupted by Mirio sitting down on the bench next to him and gently putting an arm around his shoulder.

"Hey... everything okay?" Mirio asked.

Tamaki lifted his head. "Oh... yeah, I'm fine," he mumbled, averting his gaze.

"You sure? If there's something you wanna talk about, I'm all ears!" Mirio winked, tugging at his ear with his free hand.

"Well, it's just that..." Tamaki sighed. "I've never been able to think of a good hero name for myself. It seems like almost everybody knows what their hero name is going to be early in life, and you especially have a really good name..." He hung his head. "I just don't know what to do."