IIRC, I missed that too, and my excuse is I was still set on Malak!Laphicet/Number Two being the actual Laphicet so that gave me a blind spot there.
Yeah, same
That setup is so good
it makes perfect sense in hindsight, but the misdirect is so well done that most people probably don't see it. I guess my only complaint is how number 2 is just so coincidentally similar to laphi in basically every way. Maybe it's explained later, but thats a ton of coincidences otherwise. Still, a relatively minor complaint with an otherwise excellent twist/reveal ---