diff --git a/single_shot_inference.py b/single_shot_inference.py
index c4aafb06..0050d91a 100644
--- a/single_shot_inference.py
+++ b/single_shot_inference.py
@@ -65,15 +65,25 @@ def build_rope_cache(max_pos, rope_dim, device, theta=10000., rope_type="default
     return torch.cos(angles).to(device), torch.sin(angles).to(device)
 
 def _apply_rope(x, pos, cos, sin, rope_dim, inverse=False):
+    """In-place RoPE — mutates x, no full clone, no empty_like allocation.
+    
+    P5: Eliminates x.clone() + empty_like per RoPE call.
+    Old: 183 calls/token × 128KB clone = 23MB pointless memcpy + 183 kernel launches.
+    New: Operates on the rope dims in-place, one slice copy back.
+    """
     T, nh, hd = x.shape; nope = hd - rope_dim
     if pos.device != cos.device: pos = pos.to(cos.device)
     c, s = cos[pos].unsqueeze(1), sin[pos].unsqueeze(1)
-    xr = x[:, :, nope:].float(); ev, od = xr[..., 0::2], xr[..., 1::2]
-    if inverse: rev, rod = ev*c + od*s, -ev*s + od*c
-    else: rev, rod = ev*c - od*s, ev*s + od*c
-    out = x.clone(); ro = torch.empty_like(xr)
-    ro[..., 0::2], ro[..., 1::2] = rev, rod
-    out[:, :, nope:] = ro.bfloat16(); return out
+    xr = x[:, :, nope:]  # view, not copy
+    ev = xr[..., 0::2].clone()  # need original ev for the mix
+    od = xr[..., 1::2]          # view; will be overwritten below
+    if inverse:
+        xr[..., 0::2] = (ev * c + od * s).bfloat16()
+        xr[..., 1::2] = (-ev * s + od * c).bfloat16()
+    else:
+        xr[..., 0::2] = (ev * c - od * s).bfloat16()
+        xr[..., 1::2] = (ev * s + od * c).bfloat16()
+    return x  # mutated in place
 
 # =====================================================================
 # Weight loading