Huh

I don't know about that... What the characters say and how they act are two very different things in this case.

First off, and I cannot say this enough: The 'pranks' were malicious, DANGEROUS, and cruel. They were bullying at its worst. Two people ended up seriously injured because of it. I absolutely do not condone this, and think those characters shown participating in it don't deserve the kindness shown later.

However, <in the context of the story> it's a very interesting crucible to put the characters through. How the main characters deal with it is very life-like.

The uke calls a spade a spade several times, and is fully prepared to defend his boyfriend, which he does on numerous occasions, not just that attempt at the end. He also offers to not hang out with the seme to protect him, even though he himself feels quite vulnerable alone, clearly putting his friend (at that time they weren't more) first.

The seme, on the other hand, *does* trivialize it. He does this for two reasons. One, he doesn't want to worry the uke, nor does he want to quit hanging out with him. He considers the uke more important than his own safety. Also, it shows that he is a fairly well grounded individual, especially since he doesn't let them get to him on any level where he wasn't already shaky (ie his acting, which he himself acknowledges sucks). He sees them as an unfortunate downside to something awesome, and considers the uke more than worth the inconvenience. The second reason feeds off the first: He trivializes it to try and make it less painful. This is a very human reaction, and oftentimes feels like the only choice the bullied person has. He's trying to take away the hurt by ignoring it. He's not successful, almost no one ever is at this, but that's what he's trying. Watch out your window while schoolkids are going home and I can almost guarantee you'll see something like this. It's sad, but it's a very common and very realistic reaction.

The captain, on the other hand, *grows* through the bullying, from the point of being a bully to protecting the seme. And for all he says that it's so the uke won't cry, his facial expressions say otherwise. Though he was fully complicit in making the seme play Nurse, his time trapped with the uke taught him a few things. Namely, it taught him what the seme has that he doesn't: Decency, self-respect, respect for others, compassion, and a sense of fairness. It's those traits, the seme's own innate decency, that drew the uke to the seme. And regardless of what he told himself, the captain's unease before the rescue proves that he does want to be better than he was, and that he's looking at the seme as a role model in that.

As for revenge? The uke bides his time on the seme's wish, same as the seme did for not reporting the sexual assault. And for the same reason: It wasn't his to tell. And, in both cases, they probably should have anyway. But it's hard, to betray the trust of someone you care for. Neither gives up on trying to convince the other, but they respect the wishes of the victim first, which is important in not re-victimizing people. The seme, on the other hand, just isn't the sort of person to *want* revenge, and his behaviour the whole way through lines up behind that. Because it's him, he can forgive. Some people are like that. He had a harder time forgiving the rape of the uke, you may have noticed. But he, again, stands by on the wishes of the victim. The captain is changed, so we don't get to see his later reaction. Considering how he himself was, though, I don't imagine he would have much of a leg to stand on for going after anyone.

tl;dr: You seem to think the story didn't give weight to the bullying, but I think it did. That the characters didn't respond in your preferred manner is simply because of the character traits sensei chose to give them.

Right! I want to do that in real life, they would need to be institutionalized! Pyschos!

Well about bullying, it really depends on the mind of the individuals, Iwaki has real friends who care about him so he probably won't care about the mobs, the same goes to Alice (LMAO