.
"I can’t believe that Tai would do such a thing." Kintaro nodded at Cody’s remark.
"No kidding. I mean, I’m not Mr. Morals or anything, but marriage is supposed to be something special. I’ve done some pretty strange stuff before, but that just seems wrong to me." Kintaro had this on his mind for a long time, but he never said it in public, "I dunno, I’m not going to judge Tai or anything… but I don’t want to be stuck in the same group of people who would do that sort of thing." Kintaro looked up. Ken was thinking about those words, Cody was simply shaking his head. Yolei was barely listening. She was trying to catch a glimpse of Tai on the terrace.
"So you still have respect for me?" Tai looked at Koushiro, both leaning over the railing.
"A little.  Tai smiled.
"So in terms of being ‘gentlemen,’ you’d rank us about equally."
"Of course." Tai nodded.
"You wouldn’t have stopped."
"Excuse me?" Koushiro was surprised by the sudden change of topic.
"A girl you have feelings for is kissing you- it doesn’t matter how much you know it’s wrong. If there’s love there, you wouldn’t stop." Tai was reflecting on his own situation. If any good could come out of the nightmare with Sora, Tai would like to see it. Maybe it could scare Izzy straight.
"Tai, please, I wouldn’t do something like that to…"
"No? There was certainly love there. You married Yolei afterwards. So you can’t deny that you had feelings for her."
"That’s irrelevant. I wouldn’t have done it, Tai. You should understand that."
"Izz… or Koushiro… I would’ve said the same thing. But when it happened to me, I didn’t stop. I couldn’t." Tai looked over at Koushiro, "At least you were lucky enough to have somebody interrupt before anything happened." Koushiro was shocked, "I wasn’t lucky enough… and I almost ruined Sora’s life." If Tai was trying to lower Koushiro’s defenses, it worked.
"You… Tai, I can’t believe… you slept with Sora?" Tai slowly nodded. Koushiro didn’t know what to make of that, "But I never would have…"
"Sometimes your heart overrules your brain." Tai took a good look at Koushiro, "Sometimes that’s a good thing, sometimes that’s a bad thing. But if there’s any situation where it would happen, that night with Yolei would be it." Koushiro was in disbelief. He was really shocked by it all, he was even finding himself short of breath.
"If you… of all people couldn’t stop then… why would I? Why would anybody… but I wouldn’t do that to Yolei. I…" Unfortunately, Tai had no choice but to drive it home.
"No.  The stake was through the heart.
"You’re right… you’re always right… I’ve… I’ve…" Koushiro was starting to lose it. Everything was exploding in his face. His business had been on his mind 24/7 ever since the phone call. For a split second, Tai was able to make him forget about it. And it was enough to tear him apart.
Tai knew he had to do it, but it almost worked too well. While he wanted Koushiro to see what he had been doing to his friends, he didn’t want to trigger a full-on nervous breakdown. Koushiro bent over. He looked like he had trouble breathing. Where five minutes ago he was hating the heartless bastard, now Tai was obligated to help him. It may have been Tai that pushed Koushiro off the cliff, but Tai was also the one that had to catch him.
"Hey Izzy, just take it easy, here have a seat." Tai helped Koushiro get into a chair nearby. He was shocked and mortified at everything he had done. "Izzy, you okay?" No response. "Koushiro?"
"Koushiro, who’s Koushiro? Who’s Izzy? Who am I? I don’t think I know anymore…" Whoever he was, he was looking bad. Tai’s words worked a little too well.
"Here, um… uh…" Fortunately, the cavalry was arriving. Yolei had joined him on the terrace. Ken was cautiously waiting behind her. Tai went up to her, "Yolei, I don’t know what happened… he…" But Yolei was silent. She couldn’t believe that the man standing before her would have an affair with a married woman. At the moment, she wasn’t looking at Tai Kamiya… she was looking at Megane. And she slapped Megane across the face before continuing towards Koushiro. All in all, it left a very stunned Tai, who rubbed his face and sighed.
"This isn’t my day." Tai walked back inside, and was face-to-face with Cody.
"Tai- we need to talk." Tai sighed audibly. What was next?
"What is it Cody, do you want a piece of me now?" Having been punched by Matt and slapped by Yolei, nothing could surprise him.
"Conference room. Now." Cody sounded like he was the leader talking to the youngest in the pack, rather than it being the other way around.
Had Cody picked up on the secret as well? It was slightly unusual for Cody to be bossing Tai around. But everything was slightly unusual today. 
"Us. As a group. It’s over.  Tai didn’t want to go that far, but he couldn’t say it was wrong.
"Well, I’m sorry Cody. That’s just how it works. Things happen, you know? You can’t expect us all to stay innocent children forever. 
"Look, Tai, I’m not going to go and say I’m perfect. I’m not, but I just don’t understand why we’re doing this to each other! We’re supposed to be a group!" Cody was growing frustrated at just about everything. He had to let it out somehow. Unfortunately, Tai had no answer for that. And it was true- this wasn’t the act of some outside force tearing the digi-destined apart- it was themselves.
"I don’t know what to say. Now you know why I stopped this. Sometimes it’s just better to leave things as is."
"Do you honestly believe that Tai?! Do you honestly believe that I should just sit here and let everybody’s lives go to hell?! We’ve done way too much together to be torn apart like this. Especially if it’s all because of us. Don’t say we should just let everybody live miserably." Cody was angry with Tai. It seemed like nobody was seeing the point.
 It was partially true- Tai was more than willing to forget about the incident with Sora, shove it in the back of his memory, and live life normally. But now he was here, getting punched, getting slapped, and sending people into nervous breakdowns. Come to think of it- why did he care how Izzy acted?
"Well fine then… if that’s how it’s going to be." Cody was finished. He wasn’t going to win. This reunion was a disaster, and Cody should never have done it in the first place. He wanted to see his friends, and he saw them for exactly what they were- a bunch of uncaring, selfish adults who have illicit affairs, act like heartless bastards, and let jealously control them. The digi-destined were through. "Fuck it."
 Nobody else wants to be here, and if everybody’s going to stop caring about what we’ve accomplished, then it’s not worth it any more. I spent so much on this one night, and this is how you all repay me.  I’m leaving." Tai hated to hear that, and he didn’t want to believe it himself. But it was true. Tai himself had done his share of the damage. And for all he know, it was too late to turn back.
"It’s a rough world." Tai was solemn. He realized what Cody put into this. The effort he made to make sure everybody was present. How was he to know it would end like this? But it was the end, and Cody had to understand that. So as to prevent any more problems.
"Tai…" Cody was about to head out, but stopped just short of the door, "if this is such a rough world…" Cody turned back to Tai and looked him in the eyes, "Then why did we all bother saving it in the first place?" Cody’s last words struck true. Tai didn’t have an answer for it. This wasn’t just a group. This wasn’t just a team. It wasn’t about twelve friends- it was about twelve people who worked together to save the world. And that regardless of age, and regardless of innocence, these twelve were standing up for all that was