It was the end of the 5th day when Kurogiri retrieved Toru. He teleported her back to the league of villain's bar.
The bar was empty, besides Shigaraki who was sitting there, waiting for the two of them. The monitor All for One listened into was on. Toru was probably supposed to reveal her findings now.
"What did you find out?" Shigaraki asked.
Toru glanced at the monitor. All it displayed were the words 'sound only.'
It's the moment of truth. Where I figure out if Master's just been testing me this whole time, or if I've discovered anything of worth. She hoped that at least the Todoroki revelation would be worth something.
"I was able to locate Dabi and Compress's address and completed my mission of observing them and Twice." Toru explained, "I did some basic social media scrubs for Spinner, Magne and Toga. They seemed to be as you described Kurogiri, although as explained before both Spinner and Toga are big Stain fans so—"
"Keep them on short leashes." Shigaraki finished, understanding what Toru was saying. "I was already planning on it."
"Did you end up deciding we could trust Twice?" Kurogiri asked.
Dabi's past doesn't suggest he's infiltrating the League with an agenda to betray us. Just that he hates Endeavor for personal reasons, although he can't be fully trusted because he likely holds family members like Natsuo closely, doesn't mean he'll lead Twice astray. Toru thought.
"If…it is decided that we should confide in him, yes." Toru agreed. "He seemed desperate to prove himself, and desperate for the League's friendship. He was exactly how you described although he was a lot more…"
"Crazy?" Shigaraki suggested.
"Unique." Kurogiri suggested more polite.
"Unique, then you let on." Toru agreed. "His quirk I don't know the full limits on, like the longevity of his clones, but if you think it will be an asset to clone me it's worth it to tell him. Although I'm not quite sure he could manipulate the others into not killing me. He doesn't seem smart enough or manipulative enough for that."
"It would be very helpful to have multiple of you during the raid." Shigaraki agreed. "And his clones will melt away once they take damage. But I agree we should probably have someone smarter in on the full plan too."
"Mr. Compress is smart. But I'm not sure how much you want to trust him. His real name is Atsuhiro Sako, and he's the great-great grandson of Oji Harima. He's basically from a pro-villain family. He was smart enough to assume the League would send a spy to investigate him and prepare a performance for them." Toru explained.
"Performance?" Shigaraki asked.
"He trapped his house and set out notes to try to explain his motives to me, while mocking the League for not just asking him directly." Toru admitted.
Toru could have almost sworn she heard a chuckle from Kurogiri.
"I'm not sure how much you can trust notes though. He claimed he wanted to be part of the League for fame, because he wanted to see the new age of villainy that All for One's pupil brought." Toru explained.
"Oh? So, his Grandfather told him about me?" All for One finally spoke, his voice picking up some interest.
"Did you know Harama, Master?" Shigaraki asked.
All for One's existence had been written out of textbooks and history. It was rare for someone completely random to know about him.
"Yes. Oji unfortunately would never join my cause no matter how much I extended an offer to him. He thought he was better than my vision. His descendant seems a little wiser though. If he's truly Oji Harama's descendant, he would be an asset to have." All for One put his two cents in.
So, he didn't know about Mr. Compress…That means I've brought some useful information to Master! Even if it was information Compress had shared about himself it was still something useful.
"So…Then we should trust the stage magician?" Shigaraki was still skeptical.
"It's your plan, Tomura." All for One reminded. "I will keep an eye on Atsuhiro Sako though, for now."
Mr. Compress must be really special to have Master elect to keep his eyes on him directly then. Toru thought.
"So then—" Shigaraki was about to give his orders, but All for One wasn't done yet.
"Atsuhiro Sako clearly knows we do have a spy if he prepared for them. I don't know though if he should be given the privilege of knowing them directly yet. I am interested in him thanks to your investigation, Toru, but I'd like him to prove himself for me to trust him first." All for One explained. "For all we know, he could be spying for a different villain. Being smart and knowing my identity doesn't make him trustworthy."
"So, we shouldn't let the stage magician in on our plan then." Shigaraki was trying to piece together the plan.
He praised me! I did well! Was all Toru could think about.
"Not yet." All for One responded. "If it's all right, I'd like to steal him for a direct meeting sometime Kurogiri. After he's passed my examination, he can meet Toru."
Kurogiri nodded. "Very well. He must be quite honored to get an audience with you."
Shigaraki was biting his thumb. "Who's our second person we let in on Toru's secret then? As she mentioned, Twice isn't really the manipulative type. And we don't really want him on the scene risking injury since he's so important. What did you find out about Stain superfan number 3, Dabi?" Shigaraki asked.
I didn't actually get any information confirming that he was a Stain superfan. Toru thought. Still, this was the person she had investigated the most, and the information she was the most confident on. She was sure All for One would praise her. She opened her mouth.
"If you feel like considering my opinion, I would suggest letting Dabi in on the planning." All for One suggested before Toru could get a word in.
"O-of course I'll listen to your opinion, Master. You've never led me wrong before." Shigaraki agreed hurriedly. "But can he be trusted as you know, a Stain fan?"
"I found out a lot about Dabi-" Toru said hurriedly, but her voice seemed tiny in comparison to her Master's, who quickly spoke over her.
"Ah. I believe there's a misunderstanding. Dabi isn't really a Stain fan. I was the one who told him it would in his best interests to join the League. We met a little before Stain's capture and I was impressed with his skill." All for One explained.
All for One's voice was smooth. Toru never questioned it. But she was surprised that he hadn't introduced Dabi as someone he had a connection with.
"Really, Master?" Shigaraki narrowed his eyes. "…Well, I guess if he's your employee he can be trusted." Shigaraki clearly didn't want to acknowledge that All for One had seen something in Dabi. He was the jealous type. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Toru found herself wondering that too. But she never tried to question All for One. It was probably part of his master plan. He doesn't know about the Todoroki stuff though; I can still impress him.
"I found out a lot about Dabi, if you'd like to hear on my investigation, like his background and—" Toru was cut off yet again.
"I'm glad you were able to succeed in your task, Toru." All for One praised, "If you hadn't, considering how close you were to the truth, I would have wondered how well of a spy I had trained."
Toru deflated. So it was all a test…. Of course Master already knew something so important. And it's no big deal that I figured out his identity it was to be expected. Toru touched her own neck. If she hadn't figured out Dabi was a Todoroki, would that have been the sign that she was useless, and would that be the end for her? She had thought she could get praise and do something no one else could, but really, she had just performed adequate.
"So whatever Toru found I can guess you already know?" Kurogiri asked.
"Yes. And to gain Dabi's agreement to work with us it was required that she doesn't spill his secrets. Still as such a big one I needed to test if Toru could uncover it." All for One explained. "Do you understand, Toru? This is an order: you must never tell what you discovered."
Shigaraki looked extremely curious and glanced at the empty space Toru occupied. He was not envious at the position she was in right now though. Being tested was never fun.
"Y-yes. I understand." Toru acknowledged. The Todoroki family secrets would remain secrets.
"So Dabi and Twice. That's who we'll tell the full scope of the plan too." Shigaraki tried to move on with the plotting, "We should probably give the league the parts of the plan we can tell them and then try to grab Twice and Dabi after the meeting. Will Compress notice he's being left out? You said he was smart, right, Toru?"
"He looks like he has discretion and knows when to keep his mouth shut." Toru explained. She tried to break out of her mind about how she had been tested.
Kurogiri nodded. "Should I go gather our warriors then?"
Shigaraki nodded, giving the order.
Shigaraki and Kurogiri had left the back room. Toru and the monitor were left alone. Likely so she could be scolded alone or criticized if that was necessary.
"Why…Why didn't you tell Shigaraki about Dabi?" She didn't want to ask why she had been tested. She likely deserved it.
"Tomura Shigaraki is the jealous sort. At this time, he's not mature enough to handle the fact that I have other students." All for One explained. "He'll learn about them all when it is required that he needs them, like he needs Dabi right now."
Toru nodded. That's true…He didn't react well at all to learning that I existed. Even though I was just a tool, and he was a full human he probably felt his place was threatened by Master's side. All for One's logic was flawless as always.
This implied though that besides her, there were many other students that All for One had in hiding. She wondered the scope of his army, although she didn't have the right to ask.
This also implied that Dabi was a full student. Had All for One been the one to save him from his injuries that he'd gotten? Had he swooped in to save the 13-year-old boy, Toya?
"And…You don't think he'll hold it against Dabi now that you knew him and didn't tell him?" Toru asked. Sure, Shigaraki hadn't been let in on about the scope of Dabi and All for One's relationship, but Shigaraki hated to be left out.
"He's growing older. I hope giving Tomura Shigaraki more responsibilities will help him grow. When he has taken over my legacy, he can no longer afford to have such petty personality flaws." All for One answered.
Which meant even if Shigaraki did react poorly and suspiciously to Dabi, that behavior would now be punished instead of ignored.
Toru wondered deep down inside, if this sort of behavior was something All for One wanted to remedy why had he let Shigaraki treat her so poorly over the years? Why had he ignored Shigaraki's obvious jealousy to the fact that she was by his Master's side?
Dabi is a human, I am not. Shigaraki can treat me poorly because my feelings don't matter- No, perhaps Master wanted to help teach me that I have no feelings at all. And besides, All for One hadn't ever let Shigaraki touch her. She hadn't died. So that was something.
Toru didn't let herself ask that question. She had her answer after all. "So why is Shigaraki your protegee instead of Dabi?" She found herself asking. If Dabi was really his student, why wasn't he valued as much as Shigaraki?
"Tomura…Is more important to my plans." All for One answered vaguely. "And Dabi was older when I found him, as you know. He was able to spend more time on his own because of that. Not only that but because of the extent of Dabi's injuries, the Doctor spent more time with him than I did."
The Doctor was All for One's associate who helped him create Nomu. Toru had met him, although the Doctor wasn't aware Toru had. She knew of his twisted personality and the sort of person he was. All for One had mentioned off handedly that if he ever introduced the two, the doctor would have likely taken an interest in Toru's invisibility quirk. That it would really bolster his Nomu's power. Because of this, Toru knew the day she was formally introduced to the Doctor would be when she failed and proved how useless she was. It would be the day of her demise.
She didn't really like the Doctor. So, she kept her mouth shut and didn't ask anything more. She just needed to accept that Dabi's identity must remain a secret.
This chapter was originally massively long, so it was split into three. Part 1 (this chapter) is the results of investigation, I believe part 2 is telling the league the actual plan for the camp raid, and part 3 is meeting Twice and Dabi.
Also I am going with one of the theories that Dabi, after his accident, was taken in by All for One and that's how he became a villain. Not sure what actually happened and how he survived burning himself alive. I thought Doctor Giraki getting to him made sense, but would love to actually find out in canon what happened.