The Rrat that it was something with merch info (and maybe having happened a couple of times) would make some sense with Mel. It's one of those things that there can be numerous scenarios where you do have to let good employees go and a company's reputation does matter. Especially in Japan where Defamation Law is pretty harsh. And it's harsh because it has real, tangible value.I can believe that Cover was in a position where they had to choose: one of their oldest talents, who stuck with them after the stalker incident even when she didn't need the money, and their image of protecting everyone's smiles with virtual idols and whatever - vs - their reputation as a big boy business, a reputation they need to do the virtual idol things for all their talents. That's just a rrat, but I can believe it.
But then I look across the aisle at the Luca/Raziel circus and the thing where Anycolor threatened an artist for breaking NDA on another company's word without fact-checking and I'm like
It's also entirely possible the entire event put Mel in violation of her contract on something they'd specifically gone over before and Cover was pretty much required to enforce it because it's a termination violation. You have rules for reasons, but it doesn't mean it isn't rough to have to enforce them.
