Additional small cleanups to as a followup to removing `self._val` #2574

Job	Run time
⚙️ Pre-set global build settings	1s
lint / Linter	1m 32s
📦 Build distribution packages	10s
📦 Build wheels for tested arches / Build wheels on ubuntu	2m 46s
📦 Build wheels for tested arches / Build wheels on macos	3m 21s
📦 Build wheels for tested arches / Build wheels on windows	5m 23s
Test (3.13, ubuntu-latest, false)	59s
Benchmark	2m 11s
Test (3.13, macos-latest, false)	59s
Test (3.13, windows-latest, false)	1m 36s
Test (3.13, Y, ubuntu-latest, false)	46s
Test (3.12, ubuntu-latest, false)	1m 0s
Test (3.12, macos-latest, false)	37s
Test (3.12, windows-latest, false)	1m 35s
Test (3.12, Y, ubuntu-latest, false)	45s
Test (3.11, ubuntu-latest, false)	48s
Test (3.11, macos-latest, false)	38s
Test (3.11, windows-latest, false)	1m 11s
Test (3.11, Y, ubuntu-latest, false)	45s
Test (3.10, ubuntu-latest, false)	41s
Test (3.10, macos-latest, false)	40s
Test (3.10, windows-latest, false)	1m 25s
Test (3.10, Y, ubuntu-latest, false)	35s
Test (3.9, ubuntu-latest, false)	43s
Test (3.9, macos-latest, false)	52s
Test (3.9, windows-latest, false)	1m 8s
Test (3.9, Y, ubuntu-latest, false)	37s
Test (pypy-3.10, Y, false, ubuntu-latest)	1m 26s
Test (pypy-3.9, Y, false, ubuntu-latest)	1m 39s
Test matrix status	4s
Pre-Deploy	0s
📦 Build wheels for odd arches${{ '' }}	0s
Deploy	0s
	36m 53s

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