diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 06a6134..9d1ce04 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 use std::error::Error;
 use std::io;
 use std::num::ParseIntError;
-use std::ops::Range;
+use std::ops::{Index, Range};
+use std::str;
 
 use ahash::AHashMap as HashMap;
 use smartstring::alias::String;
@@ -37,8 +38,7 @@ impl Segmenter {
 
     /// Appends list of words that is the best segmentation of `text` to `out`
     pub fn segment(&self, text: &str, out: &mut Vec<String>) {
-        let clean = clean(text);
-        SegmentState::new(&clean, &self, out).run()
+        SegmentState::new(&Ascii::new(text), &self, out).run()
     }
 
     fn score(&self, word: &str, previous: Option<&str>) -> f64 {
@@ -75,15 +75,15 @@ impl Segmenter {
 
 struct SegmentState<'a> {
     data: &'a Segmenter,
-    text: &'a str,
-    memo: HashMap<(&'a str, &'a str), (f64, Range<usize>)>,
+    text: &'a Ascii,
+    memo: HashMap<(Range<usize>, Range<usize>), (f64, Range<usize>)>,
     split_cache: Vec<usize>,
     result: &'a mut Vec<String>,
     best: Vec<Vec<usize>>,
 }
 
 impl<'a> SegmentState<'a> {
-    fn new(text: &'a str, data: &'a Segmenter, result: &'a mut Vec<String>) -> Self {
+    fn new(text: &'a Ascii, data: &'a Segmenter, result: &'a mut Vec<String>) -> Self {
         Self {
             data,
             text,
@@ -123,13 +123,11 @@ impl<'a> SegmentState<'a> {
 
         let mut best = f64::MIN;
         for split in 1..(range.len().min(self.data.limit) + 1) {
-            let (start, end) = (range.start, range.end);
-            let (prefix, suffix) = self.text[start..end].split_at(split);
-            let split = start + split;
-
+            let (start, split, end) = (range.start, range.start + split, range.end);
+            let prefix = &self.text[start..split];
             let prefix_score = self.data.score(prefix, previous).log10();
-            let pair = (suffix, prefix);
 
+            let pair = (split..end, start..split);
             let (suffix_score, suffix_splits) = match self.memo.get(&pair) {
                 Some((score, splits)) => (*score, &self.split_cache[splits.start..splits.end]),
                 None => {
@@ -161,17 +159,34 @@ impl<'a> SegmentState<'a> {
     }
 }
 
-/// Return `text` lower-cased with non-alphanumeric characters removed
-fn clean(s: &str) -> String {
-    s.chars()
-        .filter_map(|c| {
-            if c.is_ascii_alphanumeric() {
-                Some(c.to_ascii_lowercase())
-            } else {
-                None
-            }
-        })
-        .collect()
+struct Ascii(Vec<u8>);
+
+impl Ascii {
+    fn new(s: &str) -> Self {
+        Self(
+            s.chars()
+                .filter_map(|c| match c.is_ascii_alphanumeric() {
+                    true => Some(c.to_ascii_lowercase()),
+                    false => None,
+                })
+                .collect::<std::string::String>()
+                .into_bytes(),
+        )
+    }
+
+    fn len(&self) -> usize {
+        self.0.len()
+    }
+}
+
+impl Index<Range<usize>> for Ascii {
+    type Output = str;
+
+    fn index(&self, index: Range<usize>) -> &Self::Output {
+        let bytes = self.0.index(index);
+        // Since `Ascii` can only be instantiated with ASCII characters, this should be safe
+        unsafe { str::from_utf8_unchecked(bytes) }
+    }
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug, Error)]
@@ -198,6 +213,7 @@ const SEGMENT_SIZE: usize = 250;
 pub mod tests {
     #[test]
     fn test_clean() {
-        assert_eq!(&super::clean("Can't buy me love!"), "cantbuymelove");
+        let text = super::Ascii::new("Can't buy me love!");
+        assert_eq!(&text[0..text.len()], "cantbuymelove");
     }
 }