彼に買っていくついでのような感じになっている気がするのは、きっと気のせいだ。

The character is buying sweets for someone, when in the middle of it he also
decides to buy something for his friend (彼)

What does ついでのような here add over ついでに

"The hunch I have that it became the sense of "I may as well buy something for
him" is surely my imagination"? (very literally)
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question
sentence reading-comprehension
ついでのような vs ついでに what's the difference here?
It's not particularly a matter of added nuance, but more of understanding ついで
as a noun.

[Daijisen](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E3%81%A4%E3%81%84%E3%81%A7/#jn-146090)
has the following:

> １ あることを行うときに、いっしょに他のことにも利用できる機会。「―があったら届けてください」「―の折に立ち寄る」

Xのついで roughly means _the opportunity that was brought about by X_. In Xのついで
**に** Yする, X is the main thing and Y is secondary ('do Y **at** the
opportunity accompanying doing X').

Slightly by extension, Xのついで is often used as 'a thing that is secondary to
X'. 彼に買っていくついで means 'a secondary thing attached to buying the sweets for him'
and のような感じになっている just literally 'something like'. In the sentence, the subject
(which should be something like 'buying sweets for somebody') is omitted, and
the whole phrase means buying the sweets for him feels like the main thing.
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answer
ついでに doesn't connect well to 感じ but directly to なっている.

> 彼に買っていくついでになっている気がする

If you are asking about the difference between the original sentence and this
one, this sentence would mean the speaker feels buying sweets has actually
become a secondary purpose with the primary purpose being buying something for
him.

> I have a feeling that it (= buying sweets) has become secondary to buying
> something for him

ような感じ in the original sentence is understood as referring to an impression an
outside observer would get from what he's doing.

> I have a feeling that it (= the current situation) has taken on an
> appearance as if it (= buying sweets) has become secondary to buying
> something for him

The original sentence, including the part where it says 気のせい, sounds like the
speaker is trying to convince himself that buying something for him is not the
main reason for being there although it might look like it.
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answer