(While I’m working on these though… some thoughts. And many Kai shouldn’t be given the time to muse on…

One: The people Snake’s with clearly knew the first Kid was Toichi. We may not know how, but they did. Now, Kai wouldn’t want them figuring out his identity to protect the people around him and such, but what if that happened to Toichi? I do still stand by the fact they used knowing his identity to get rid of him from fairly early on, simply because they didn’t seem to think it’d be necessary to outright kill Kaito immediately and just gave a warning. That most likely means Toichi didn’t actually get a chance to cause them too much trouble. Enough that he didn’t listen to the first time they warned him, and they got rid of him, but not so much that they found him the same threat Kai is now. But either way, them knowing does make me wonder if people Toichi knew were threatened. Regardless of how involved he’d become, he didn’t seem the type to fall so easily into a trap. Sure, could’ve faked his death or something (and then he’d be an ass for not coming out and telling Kaito when it’s clear he’s the current Kid), but maybe he really couldn’t escape. Basically… what if they did threaten his family? Would explain why he’d get caught in something like that… But if things did happen like that, my Kaito at least would blame himself to a degree, even if he obviously didn’t know about Kid at all then. It’d mean he was at least partially responsible for why his dad is gone now. To protect him…
PS: The reason my personal headcanon is that Kai was present at the last show Toichi had, aside from the shock it would have been to him, is because he did seem the type to attend all of his shows. Not sure about ones in other countries after, say, Kaito started going to school, but if we go by the specials banner and such, it happened in Japan… Something I think about a lot, really…

Two: Kaito’s phobia is weird. And not just because it’s fish. Pretty sure he gets some adrenaline rush and a fight or flight (usually flight) response when he sees them, but it’s not all that crippling. Pretty sure his biggest problem is touching them, more than anything. At least, that’s when he’d probably freak out the most. He may get uncomfortable, but he can get up close to them without immediately backing away and running/shooting at it, unless he’s taken by surprise. May turn him into a nervous wreck to be with them too long, but he’s swum in the ocean on multiple occasions. And in the manga, he was perfectly fine with kicking a shark a little, even (with flippers on), because it was asleep. Which is why I think he’s more afraid when they can move, because they’re more unpredictable and he doesn’t want to come into contact with them, more than anything. Though I also do think eating them freaks him out to. Honestly, it’s more as though he thinks all contact with fish is like poison more than outright fear of the creatures themselves. Still no explanation as to why this would be, but just interesting to think about.)