@_ = ( $item[0], $item[1] );
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is effectively

@_ = ();
push @_, $item[0], $item[1];
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You're not assigning to the alias but replacing them with new scalars. To assign to the aliases, you'll have to list the elements or use an array slice.

( $_[0], $_[1] ) = ...;
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or

@_[0..$#_] = ...;
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