Stephanie Backstory

Stephanie Gorgeouspalace first appeared in SS2, where on the fourth friday of July (around the time the series starts, so when Index met Touma) a conversation took place between Stephanie and Sunazara Chimitsu. The conversation is a friendly one, as Stephanie and Chimitsu are discussing different assassination techniques while Chimitsu is cleaning his rifle. It would seem Stephanie has a job coming up, to assassinate the leader of a group scamming people out of investments by falsely claiming to have developed a different method than Academy City to create espers, on behalf of some Chinese merchants who fell for it. While Chimitsu is a traditional bullet-to-the-head-style guy, Stephanie has some doubts as to this in her words "old fashioned method".

>“Sniping is so old fashioned,” came a voice to the front.

>[...]

>“Actually, doesn’t sniping have a lot of pointless things in it? Whether it’s 5 mm or 7 mm,
aiming for someone’s head or chest with such a small bullet is just pointless. Just a little
bit of wind and the bullet’s trajectory is off, the target just has to sneeze and you’ve
failed, and, if they’re wearing any bulletproof equipment, you might not kill them in one
shot. That all just makes it pointless.”

While Chimitsu immediately starts to sulk upon hearing this (to Stephanie's surprise), she elaborates that perhaps sniping can be done with other weapons than a rifle. Like a missile launcher.

>“To be blunt, wouldn’t this be easier with a missile launcher?”

>“…”

>“Wha-!? Sunazara-san, don’t look at me like I’m a heretic!! Y’know, it really would be
easier. When you’re sniping, missing a vital spot means you’ve failed, but a missile just
has to hit somewhere nearby and the target will be killed in the blast, right!? And it’ll kill
them even if they’re wearing bulletproof equipment, so it’s easier in every way!!”

It would seem Stephanie's less the "accurate and clean with one bullet"-type and more the "accuracy is unnecessary when causing enough explosions"-type of gal. Although Chimitsu laughs in scorn he eventually relents, stating it's her job and that she can execute it however she wants.

Cut to three days later when a distraught Stephanie meets Chimitsu again, lamenting the fact that news channels claim her target "miraculously survived". Apparently Stephanie blew both the leader and his bodyguards sky-high, but in the chaos, confusion, and the dust and debris caused by the explosions the rest of the group hid the body and spread the news that their leader survived the attack. Even Stephanie's clients believe she failed and refuse to pay her. Chimitsu then explains that this is exactly why the old bullet-to-the-head sniping technique is the best, as the death of the target is in plain view for anyone to see and can't be disputed this way.

>“Blowing all of them away makes it a catastrophe. If you efficiently ‘display’ the body,
they can’t fool anyone.”

>Sunazara sighed and then continued.

>“To the client, it doesn’t matter if the target is truly alive or dead. Socially, the target is
still alive. The ability to reliably kill the target in every meaning of the word is the quality
looked for in an assassin.”

>“…Uh huh.”

>“That is why we go out of our way to hide within heavily guarded parades and put a
bullet between the target’s eyes while everyone is watching. Not causing so much
damage is better at preventing anyone from making excuses and a shot to the head is
especially effective in that regard. Old fashioned methods are used in modern times
because of how effective they are. Really, how stupid can you be?”

When Stephanie is wracking her brain over how to fix this situation Chimitsu just picks up his sniper rifle, walks out the door, and tells her to join him. As Stephanie is wondering what he's going to do Chimitsu reveals that after studying the group's public statements he found it resembled the leader's style too much, and that not only did the public not see what happened to the body in the explosions neither did Stephanie, as her target did actually survive and was pulling a double con to make the underworld believe he was dead.

>“I thought some writer had created a script and it was all an act, but there’s too much of
his characteristic persuasiveness there. …He must really be alive.”

>“Eh? But…”

>“Did you actually see the body? And even if you did, it could have been a body double.
Either way, the target must be using this to let the residents of the underworld believe
he is dead to prevent any further pursuit.”

After chastising Stephanie once again for not getting proper proof of her kill and making a very ironic statement...

>“Um. Does that mean…I have a chance?”

>“Yes, aren’t you glad? You’ve been given a chance to live on due to your complete lack of
skill. An assassin that doesn’t even get proof that she has killed her target is more vulgar
than a housewife wielding a heavy ashtray against her cheating husband. **One thing I
know is that I will never die in an explosion no matter what.**”

...the pair eventually leaves to clean up Stephanie's mess, with Chimitsu doing it all for free.

>After all, he was heading out to snipe someone for no pay because he had to clean up for
some idiot that missed her target.

Now this story neatly sets the stage for Stephanie's actions this arc, portraying the relationship between Stephanie and Chimitsu. They are more than just colleagues, as Chimitsu felt comfortable enough to led his guard down and clean his weapon in Stephanie's presence, chastised and scolded her when messing up, and then researched and found a way to solve her problem (doing it all for free), and Stephanie not only went to ask him for advice and input before executing her job, but also immediately sought him out for help once she failed.

We can clearly see that they not only share a mentor-student relationship, but combined with the casual and trusting behaviour they show around one another are more akin to a pseudo father-daughter relationship.

Skipping this bit not only does a disservice to Chimitsu and Stephanie by not explaining the nature of their relationship, but also results in the viewer not quite understanding why Stephanie is acting so emotional and protective when it comes to Chimitsu in particular, especially considering his current state is not only an occupational hazard but Kinuhata was also justified in attacking him in self-defense. Stephanie just nearly lost a father figure. Of course she reacts this way.