Taro Namatame stretched his arms, work done for the day. He looked down at his wristwatch; he was happy to see that he still had time to do his hobby. He looked around suspiciously before he started to clean up his workplace. Minutes later, everything was cleaned and organized; if anyone came into his office, they would assume that he had cleaned up and went straight home. In reality, he went somewhere else; a place that didn't exist on Earth, in fact. He left his office and walked down the hallway, not running into anyone else on the way. He entered the security room; the security guards were currently on break, at the same time they usually are. Namatame made one last look around before he dipped his hands into one of the larger security monitors and pulled himself in.

He found himself in a crisp, green countryside, with a gentle breeze wafting through the air. He took a deep breath, savoring the environment; recently, he had been entering the TV world to relax and explore. With the help of a certain group of highschoolers, he knew a route that led to a large red tower of TVs that connected the world to the Junes Department Store. Keeping the TV world's different flow of time in mind, he had a few hours to explore before heading home.

He walked down through the countryside, taking in the sights and noticing the interesting landmarks: a look-alike of Inaba cast under a red light from a setting sun, a castle, a hot springs resort, a former strip club turned into a dance club, a place that reminded him of the Shin Megami Tensei games he played as a kid, a bunker that resembled something from that Featherman R show, and a beanstalk leading to a colorful palace in the sky; he knew the last one by heart, and it was a moment in his life that Namatame wasn't proud of. He still felt terrible about the things he'd done, but he now wished to atone for what he did.

These landmarks were spread around the beautiful, lush landscape; he was told that they used to be teeming with Shadows and fog, but it has all been cleared out. Once or twice, he thought he spotted the Hanamura boy looking forlornly at the liquor shop in the look-alike town, and sometimes he heard childish giggling inside the military bunker; perhaps they're the Shadows of the high school student group.

Speaking of Shadows, he wondered about his own Shadow, and why he hasn't met it; in case Namatame encounters his shadow, he kept a revolver hidden in his pants. So far, however, despite having been visiting the TV world for three months already, he hasn't met his shadow yet. He's not sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

He stopped walking; in the distance, he could see a sea of fog covering a hill. He occasionally saw patches of fogs with buildings or monuments hidden within them; sometimes the fog got cleared up, with the person that spawned the place having faced himself in the real world. He was certain that Shadows were hidden in the fog. He could fight one or two off with his revolver, but without this Persona thing the students had, he had no chance fighting vast swarms of them. He usually stayed clear of the foggy areas...

...except in this case. At the top of the hill, Namatame saw something that enticed him; a lone grave sat at the top of the grassy, fog covered knoll. Dare he investigate? It looked to be a fairly small area, so Namatame was confident about exploring it. He brandished his weapon and walked cautiously through the fog. He slowly trekked up the hill, encountering no resistance on the way, which was rather odd... Maybe the Shadows only attacked Persona users? ...Probably, he thought. The Shadows had never attacked him and the little girl months ago, and they only went for the high school students, whom he thought was enemies at the time. Still though, better safe than sorry.

Eventually, he reached the top of the hill and examined the grave; the grave was well-kept, with a fine marble headstone with flowers spread over the grave. Then, his eyes fell onto the inscription; his heart filled with dread as he read the name on it:

Mayumi Yamano

"You've finally showed up." Someone spoke to Namatame from behind. He quickly turned, pointing his revolver at the stranger. However, the person standing behind him was no stranger; it was himself, dressed in his delivery man outfit, with yellow eyes and dark aura surrounding him. "Why are you so scared? I'm your Shadow. I'm you. You have nothing to worry about from yourself; after all, what kind of hero would hurt people?"

Namatame hesitated; his shadow referred to the events that took place many months ago, when he kidnapped people and shoved them into the TV world, believing himself to be a hero. In reality, he had accidentally almost cause the deaths of several people. He lowered his weapon; he was told that if he encountered his Shadow, talking was the best method, with fighting being the back-up plan. "I'm no hero."

His shadow laughed. "Of course you aren't! You're a murderer! You foolishly believed that you were saving those people -"

"I'm an attempted murderer." calmly stated Namatame, trying to reign the situation. "Yes, I did do all that..."

"...You do not deny that?"

"Of course I don't." Namatame sighed. "I've made mistakes back then; I wanted to avenge my sweet Mayumi, and that poor Konishi girl by trying to 'save' people."

Shadow Namatame was silent; this was going good so far.

"I won't deny it; I am you. I'm a criminal. I've almost killed five people. I acknowledge all that. But..." Namatame smiled at his own Shadow. "...I plan to work to atone for my mistakes. I'm not going to be a false-messiah; I'm going to run for public office again, and I will use that position to help society. I am you, you are me... and I plan to fix all of that."

He did it; he's defeated his Shadow through acceptance. His own Shadow smiled at him and dissolved into light; the light condensed into a card and the card projected an image; it was a knight like figure in a large coat, carrying a bladed weapon. The creature had a color scheme of gold and pure white, emanating radiance.

He has obtained the facade to overcome life's hardships, the Persona, Izanagi-no-Okami!

The card stopped projecting the Persona and it floated down into Namatame's hands. "I have my own Persona now..." He gave it a quick test drive; he threw the card up into the air, aimed his revolver, and fired through the card. Izanagi-no-Okami was dispensed from it; the golden warrior emitted a great light, which ended up clearing away the fog covering the hill and grave.

Not all of the fog was cleared away however; a voice spoke to him from a patch of fog, which had a feminine figure hiding within it. "You've truly changed, my former pawn." Namatame looked at the patch of fog, completely bewildered. "I'm sure that your love is proud of you right now. Well done, child of man." The last of the fog disappeared, along with the figure that stood within it. When Namatame looked around for the figure, he noticed something that he was sure wasn't there before; there were now flowers surrounding the grave.

Namatame smiled to himself, gave one last look at Mayumi's grave, and sauntered off to locate the tv that led to Junes, with his new power in tow.

The End

I've always had this headcanon that if Namatame faced his Shadow, his Shadow would become Izanagi-no-Okami; it makes sense, considering the god/messiah complex he displays and the fact that Izanami's other pawns had forms of Izanagi. So, I made this fic to address this. Namatame is an underrated charracter, at least compared to Yu and Adachi, so I'm proud to give him a little limelight.

I hope you enjoyed this one-shot, and please leave reviews!