diff --git a/complex_tokenization/graph.py b/complex_tokenization/graph.py
index 27e631e..efd63d1 100644
--- a/complex_tokenization/graph.py
+++ b/complex_tokenization/graph.py
@@ -47,12 +47,17 @@ def node_count(self) -> int:
         raise NotImplementedError
 
 
-@dataclass(frozen=True, slots=True)
-class Node(GraphVertex):
-    value: bytes
+class Node(bytes, GraphVertex):
+    # A Node *is* its bytes, so __hash__/__eq__/__len__ are bytes' C-level
+    # operations — which is what the trainer's Counter and merge scans hammer.
+    # bytes wins the MRO for those, but we still want GraphVertex's __str__.
+    __str__ = GraphVertex.__str__
+
+    def __new__(cls, value: bytes):
+        return super().__new__(cls, value)
 
     def __bytes__(self):
-        return self.value
+        return self[:]  # a plain bytes copy (not the Node subclass)
 
     def dot(self, level=0) -> Iterable[str]:
         yield "\t" * level + f'{self.oid} [label="{dot_escape(str(self))}"];'
@@ -63,23 +68,10 @@ def merge(self, token: "Node", merge: tuple):
     def node_count(self) -> int:
         return 1
 
-    def __eq__(self, other):
-        if not isinstance(other, Node):
-            return False
-        return self.value == other.value
-
-    def __hash__(self):
-        # hash(bytes) is cached by CPython; the dataclass default hash((value,))
-        # rebuilds and rehashes a 1-tuple on every call.
-        return hash(self.value)
-
     def __add__(self, other):
         if isinstance(other, NodesSequence):
-            return NodesSequence(tuple([self]) + other.nodes)
-        return Node(value=self.value + other.value)
-
-    def __len__(self):
-        return len(self.value)
+            return NodesSequence((self,) + other.nodes)
+        return Node(b"".join((self, other)))  # both are bytes; join avoids Node.__add__ recursion
 
 
 @dataclass(frozen=True, slots=True)
@@ -233,7 +225,7 @@ def merge(self, token: Node, nodes: tuple):
         if nodes[0] == self.root:
             if len(nodes) == len(self.children) + 1:
                 if all(nodes[i + 1] == child for i, child in enumerate(self.children)):
-                    return Node(value=token.value)
+                    return token
 
         root = self.root.merge(token, nodes)
         children = tuple(child.merge(token, nodes) for child in self.children)