Stuck with virtual stacking with the C9500 series?

I'm looking at replacing a very old core with the 9500 series. Thing is, the current core has 3*16 port density which would fill a single c9500-48y4c. This leaves the site with no room for expansion.

In looking at the documents for the model I see no option for a stacking module. This further reduces my available uplink ports. I'd like to use a 40G link between Core 1 and Core 2 which would leave me with only two remaining SFP slots to virtual stack.

I could potentially uplink like Core 1 sw1 to core 2 sw 1 and 2 with a single link and then dual link for virtual stack. And do the same on Core 2 to Core 1 but this feels inefficient.

Anyone have any experience with virtual stacking or have any suggestions?