As a minor aside, apart from tripping even more death flags for poor Messer and Kaname (via the cliche, "couples that deepen their love under the jellyfish will be together forever," legend), the reactions to the love talk seemed a bit forced this ep. I suppose it's understandable that Mirage was blushing up a storm when the subject turned to intimacy if they want to paint her as an innocent; i wonder how GG is gonna translate 'shoubu pantsu,' 'cause the closest English equivalent i can think of is a bit crude.
However, when Hayate proclaimed, "If you're in love then just say it!" Mirage and Freyja exchanged a mutual sideways glance that implies way more consciousness of their respective positions in the love triangle than either of them should have by their characterization so far. I guess they figure they need to finally get the triangle off the ground before the end of the first cour, but i'm still not buying it.
Edit: i
so want Mirage to feed Bogue his, "Heh, we can leave the mooks for later," quip with a side of white-hot lead at some point but the non-aces in the squad really weren't firing on all cylinders this time. Guess they had to save up a lot of spotlight for Messer and Keith, but still.