"Inko is just one cog in a grand machine years in her father's making. So small, she can only speculate on its true size and scale. All she knows is her role is on the fringe of an operation to ruin one man's life. When that man walks past everything else right up to her, she ends up set to play an even bigger role that she could have ever imagined."
"And then the cog comes loose."
Naïve Melody
is an Alternate Universe Fic from My Hero Academia written by aconstantstateofbladerunner. The story focuses on Inko Midoriya who ends up pregnant after a one night stand with the Number One Hero himself. In most fics, this wouldn't be too big of a problem. But in this tale? She was forced to go through with it as part of the nefarious machinations of her father, All For One.
Naïve Melody provides examples of:
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Inko was a regular woman who's life was flip turned upside down when her son became the heir to the Number One Hero. In this story, she was created by the Number One Villain as part of a ploy to seduce All Might into impregnating her. Her backstory is just as depressing as she grew up in paranoia over what her father would do to her and her siblings for not living up to their expectations while being forbidden from wanting anything outside of their assigned roles.
- And Then What?: All her life, Inko was prepared for her one job of charming All Might and becoming pregnant. Now she can't help but worry about "what" will happen to her next.
- Baby Factory: The broodmares of the mansion consist of older women who take pride in giving birth to multiple children to support All For One's cause. Many of them were given quirks to maintain their ability to reproduce and their mentalities are so warped that they see nothing wrong with their overall situation.
- Bait-and-Switch: When viewing the corpse of Oboro Shirakumo, All For One gentle holds his face while softly touching his hair. But then he starts twisting the head around and the upper body to examine it's decaying status.
- Betrayal by Offspring:
- All For One's masterplan for Inko is to give birth to All Might's child. Then the boy would be raised to become the ultimate weapon against his father to drive him to despair and kill him afterwards.
- Inko ultimately decides to do this to her father by escaping his clutches and using the child within her as leverage.
- Big Damn Heroes: Just before Inko is attacked by her brother Sitcom, her knight in shining armor shows up and swiftly apprehends the Live Studio Killer.
- Big Fancy House: Inko grew up in an elaborate mansion and has to stay there during her pregnancy. But considering her upbringing, she only has bitter memories of the place and only wants to leave it.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: All For One's children and his "wives" barely count as this considering how twisted and morbid their relations are with one another and how they only exist to fulfill their patriarch's wishes.
- The Cameo: Shigaraki Tomura appears as a child in All For One's family meeting in Chapter 2.
- Close to Home: During their night out, Toshinori reveals to Inko about his own experiences with being sought after by various women who only want to get pregnant with his child so they can use it for shallow and self-serving reasons. This hits close to Inko given the whole reason she was created to begin with.
- Exposed to the Elements: Justified in Chapter 5. Inko manages to escape the mansion and makes her way through a chilly mountain range in only a light undershirt, drawers, and barefooted. Considering how her frillier outfits would have hindered her ability to run and escape, she had to make due with this ensemble.
- Eye Scream: Inko pulls out the eyes of a lava fueled villain to keep him from capturing her during her escape.
- Flashback Cut: While Inko is fighting the hospital staff in Chapter 7, the scene cuts to her one night out with All Might.
- Flowery Insults: Father refers to All Might as "The King of Buffoons and Billboards" when indoctrinating his children.
- Great Escape: The story develops into this as Inko becomes motivated to escape and tries to learn as much as she can to pull it off.
- Grew Beyond Their Programming: Many of Inko's siblings developed their own interests and desires outside of their role which led to their unfortunate deaths by their father. Inko herself is starting to grow but is struggling to come out alive with her independence and sanity.
- Has a Type: The older daughters of All For One were created with unique archetypes to ensure that All Might would fall in love with one of them and procreate. The faux actor Kin even spells out the different types among his sisters and which one All Might fell for.Kin Gima: Some freaks get off on being out of the other person’s league. I mean, that’s her flavor, ain’t it? You’re [Solaris] the hot shot on his level, Izanami is the cougar, Katsumi is the jailbait, Tadao and Naomi are girlbosses, and Inko’s the vulnerable, plain-Jane, minimum wage worker who couldn’t say no even if she weren’t desperate.
- Hidden Evil: The first half of Chapter 1 shows All Might attending a party where various people, from Pro Heroes to journalists to celebrities, have known him to the point of familiarity. The second half reveals that all of them are working together as part of All For One's twisted family.
- History Repeats: All For One hopes to invoke this by having All Might's future child kill him, much like how Nana's grandson killed his father.
- Hope Spot: In Chapter 6, Inko comes across Might Tower and rejoices in knowing that she's reached her destination. But as she reaches the tower, she starts to notice the crowd noises becoming warped and unsettling. It isn't until she turns around and realizes that her brother Sitcom found her.
- Internal Reveal:
- In Chapter 3, All For One reveals to Inko about his backstory and how his younger brother betrayed him.
- In Chapter 7, All Might learns about All For One's Big, Screwed-Up Family plan through Inko.
- Irony: During their one night stand, All Might chats with Inko on how he received tons of invitations from wealthy women just s they could have his children.
- Kick the Dog: None of the siblings have sympathy for another. They only look out for themselves and are all too willing to laugh at one of their own when a sibling gets chewed out or picked on.
- MacGuffin Melee: After their little sister's desertion, every sibling goes on the hunt for her while attacking one another in the hopes of bringing Inko back to their Father. Even villains not affiliated with the family get in on the fun which leads to bloodshed and destruction all over Tokyo.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Growing up, Inko had more than thirty three siblings who slept in the same room as her. Though the number began to deteriorate as she grew older. Although she has more siblings who are much older than her.
- Mood Whiplash: Chapter 1 starts off at a fabulous ball with the fair prince intermingling with multiple acquaintances and associates who want to exploit him for their own greed, but destiny shows the prince kindness by having him meet a young woman to call his princess. Then everything changes when Inko leaves for a family visit...
- Mythology Gag:
- Black Dog was previously featured in Angel's Egg (MHA) where he tried to intermingle with the Number One Hero.
- Inko bitterly comments on how there won't be a Christmas date between her and All Might given their circumstances when in fact they did go through one in All but One.
- The Needs of the Many: While recuperating in his mansion, All Might asks for Inko's help in identifying as many of All For One's children as possible to expose them and save Japan from his authority of wickedness.
- No Honor Among Thieves: As Taxi points out, every sibling is out to protect themselves and stay in All For One's good graces. This means that every sibling is all too willing to fight and kill one another if it means taking Inko back to him for a grand reward.
- One-Night-Stand Pregnancy: Inko's one mission was to seduce All Might into making love with her and bear his child. Once she's confirmed pregnant, she immediately leaves to her father to report the "big" news.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: The ending notes of Chapter 6 have the author explain that they will be making critical decisions about the direction of the story to avoid making it come off as "Anti-Abortion", especially in regards to the Roe vs Wade controversy of 2022.
- Related in the Adaptation:
- This fic dabbles with the concept of Inko being one of All For One's daughters.
- In Chapter 3, it's revealed that Oboro Shirakumo was another of All For One's children.
- Run or Die: Inko's ultimate escape plan involves making a run for it when the front gates of the family mansion are opened. Knowing fully well what will happen to her if her "siblings" catch her, Inko keeps running until she reaches civilization.
- Self-Serving Memory: All For One remembers himself as being a thoughtful older brother who was only looking out for Yoichi and how he was swayed by wretched fiends who wanted his Quirk to defy his goodwill.
- Shout-Out: All Might admits that in some universe he would have gone Midnight Cowboy.
- Shut Up, Kirk!: Inko's pleas towards Sitcom fall on deaf ears as the villain has taken their Father's ideologies to heart and won't accept that there's more to their lives beyond their designated roles.
- Stating the Simple Solution: While alone with her thoughts, Inko wonders why her Father would go through the trouble of having All Might sleep with one of his daughters just to create a grandson who can kill him. She even believes that ambushing the Number One Hero after inviting him to the family mansion would get the job done much faster.
- Tragic Villain: Practically every member of All For One's "family" counts as this. All of them were created for very specific reasons, were never given the opportunity to learn or understand love, and can be easily discarded or placed in worse situations at the drop of a hat.
- Villain Takes an Interest: The underground world of villains overhears about Inko's escape and how valuable she is to All For One. This leads to many villains rising up to hunt her down for their own purposes.
- Wake Up Fighting: Happens in Chapter 7 when Inko wakes up in a hospital bed and fear that she was taken to Dr. Ujiko's laboratory.
- We Have Reserves: Given how many children the broodmares make on a regular basis, All For One has no issue with killing off any child if he believes the reason is justified. Inko also speculates that he has another mansion of children and broodmares to use for his many plans.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gran Torino gives an earful to All Might after he explains his situation involving Inko and her father.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In Chapter 5, Inko manages to garner sympathy from some bus passengers by pretending to be an abuse victim who was targeted by a rogue cop. It helps that she looks like a total mess when she finds them.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: In Chapter 7, a desperate Inko tries to feel the hospital in the hopes of reaching All Might's Tower for the best protection. She manages to escape the hospital but winds up in the clutches of her brother Taxi.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Subverted in the second chapter. After Inko succeeds in gaining an heir leaving the other siblings, and sisters, without much to do, their father instructs them to continue their roles as they can still obtain information and influence to support his cause.
