"Must be, what, fifteen years ago now? That was a truly miserable experience."

The man starting the story was Tsunoda (alias), a company president whose terrifying scowl could give a mobster a run for his money. Tsunoda runs a demolition company and works on the front lines as a site supervisor himself.

"I mean, calling it a 'company' is a stretch—it's practically a sole proprietorship. If I don't move my own ass, the job site doesn't run, ha-ha!"

He let out a hearty laugh and drained a medium draft beer. Tsunoda and I had met through a mutual acquaintance at a favorite local izakaya. After bumping into each other a few times, we became familiar, and when he learned I collected scary stories, he offered to tell me this one.

Setting his empty glass on the table, Tsunoda crossed his arms and began.

"So, I got a request to tear down a single-family home."

The job came from a real estate agent he knew. They went way back, and as usual, he was asked to provide an estimate first.

"'Alright, tell me the address and I'll head over,' I said."

Tsunoda immediately headed to the site using the info from the agent. The house was located on the outskirts of a quiet residential neighborhood, a relatively peaceful area.

"It was a gorgeous house. A big-name homebuilder built it, and someone had clearly poured a fortune into it."

The property in question was a white, two-story house. Hearing it was slated for demolition, Tsunoda had expected an old place, but it looked practically brand-new. The exterior was magnificent—a Western-style wall enclosed the entire lot, complete with a massive gate and a uniquely styled paved pathway through the yard. There was even a large wooden deck in the garden. It was obvious a huge amount of money had gone into not just the house, but the surrounding grounds. However, the natural lawn had been left unkempt, overgrown with weeds. It had the look of a place abandoned for several years, though it seemed like a simple renovation would make it completely livable again.

"'I checked out the property. Are you really tearing that down? You could easily sell it—what a waste,' I said."

On his way back from the site, Tsunoda called the real estate agent to give him his estimate.

"'Tsuno, so how much can you do it for?'"

Before answering Tsunoda's question, the agent rushed to ask for a price. A bit taken aback by the hasty response, Tsunoda proceeded with the conversation.

"'Well, considering the size of that lot and how massive the house is, I'd need at least 3.5 million yen.'"

"'...I know I'm asking a lot, but is there any way you could do it for around 2 million?'"

"'2 million? Come on, that's way too tight. You want the furniture and personal belongings cleared out too, right? In that case, no matter how cheap I make it, it's gonna be 3 million at least...'"

"'How about 2.5 million then! Please, make it 2.5 million!'"

Tsunoda had intended to turn down the offered amount, but sensing an unusual desperation in the agent's tone, he figured there had to be a story behind it.

"'...Alright. Fine, let me take care of it for that much. You've thrown plenty of work my way, Fukuda-san. If I don't payback my debts once in a while, karma's gonna come get me.'"

"'Tsuno, I am so, so sorry!'"

"'It's fine, it's fine. But hey, there's gotta be a reason you're bargaining so hard, right? I know it's a bit tacky to ask, but could you tell me why?'"

To clarify, "Fukuda-san" was the president of the real estate agency. When it came to Fukuda's jobs, Tsunoda had a "unique pricing scale." There was a standard market rate, of course, but because of their long acquaintance, Tsunoda could intuitively feel what Fukuda could afford: "If it's Fukuda-san, he probably wants it done for roughly this much." That was precisely why he was so surprised that Fukuda was aggressively negotiating a price—something he hadn't done in years.

"'I feel like I'm pulling one over on you, Tsuno...'"

"'Huh?'"

"'I was planning to explain everything once you took the job... I mean, I really should have told you when I asked for the estimate. The truth is... you remember that thing from a few years back? That house where the whole family was murdered?'"

"'Ah... Oh! I remember! That one!'"

"'It was all over the news. That house is where it happened.'"

"That thing" was a horrific family murder that had occurred in Tsunoda's hometown. A tragic case from years past where a wife and two children were butchered while the head of the household was away on a business trip.

"'If I recall... a burglar broke in to rob the place while the husband was away, and slaughtered the rest of the family?'"

"'Yeah, exactly.'"

"'And at first, they suspected the husband because they supposedly weren't getting along, right?'"

"'Spot on.'"

"'My crew was making a huge fuss about how the husband had to be the killer back then, too. I told 'em to cut it out, but they said people online were saying the same thing. I don't look at the internet so I didn't know much about that, but the killer turned out to be someone else entirely, didn't he?'"

"'Yeah, a guy with a rap sheet. He'd done armed robberies before, too.'"

Just as Fukuda said, the perpetrator was a repeat offender. He was a serial burglar who targeted the victims' house thinking they were wealthy. On the day of the crime, he broke in and bound the wife and children. But because he couldn't find the husband, he panicked, thinking the husband had escaped to call the police, flew into a rage, and murdered the wife and kids. The next day, unable to reach his family, the husband cut his business trip short, returned to find the gruesome scene, and called the police. Months later, the suspect was arrested for a different crime and confessed to the murder. Skipping the details, although the killer claimed it was an impulsive act and denied intent to murder, his death sentence was finalized due to the premeditated nature and sheer malice of the crime.

"'And... the client who wants it demolished is that surviving husband.'"

Years before the incident, Fukuda had actually helped him look for land to build that very house. He hadn't just helped with the land search; he'd also advised him on the mortgage. Perhaps because of that connection, the husband had reached out to him again, wanting to dispose of the property.

"'His name is Tamiya-san (alias). You asked earlier if it couldn't just be sold, right, Tsuno? I said the exact same thing to him. But he told me he couldn't stomach the thought of anyone else living in a house full of those memories. And hey, you can't blame him. So, we agreed to tear it down and sell the bare land like he wanted. The location is great, after all. If it's just land, it'll sell right away even with a history like that.'"

"'I see... That makes sense.'"

"'Tamiya-san came to my office once, and he looked completely broke. I told him demolition usually runs around 3 to 4 million yen. He said 2.5 million was the absolute absolute most he could pull together... I'm sorry, Tsuno. I know this sounds like a sob story to guilt-trip you.'"

Hearing that, Tsunoda understood completely. Everything made sense now, and far from being annoyed, he felt a strong desire to help the guy out. He agreed to take the job for the original 2 million yen Fukuda had pleaded for.

"'To be honest, I wasn't gonna make a dime of profit. But my job is just tearing things down, you know? If doing that could help someone out, I figured I'd take it on.'"

A week later, Tsunoda met Fukuda and Tamiya at the site. There were various things to inspect and confirm prior to the demolition. Even when you're tearing a place down, you don't just roll in with heavy machinery and start smashing things to pieces. You have to check the structure and the land, measure the road width in front of the lot, assess the distance to neighboring houses, and so on.

For this job, since Tamiya requested the disposal of all the furniture and housewares, Tsunoda explained that everything inside would be demolished along with the structure. Also, considering the nature of the tragedy, Tsunoda asked whether Tamiya wanted to perform a ground-breaking ceremony or a purification ritual before demolition, but Tamiya declined.

"'Honestly, given what happened there, I really wanted him to get a purification done. But we couldn't force him, so we decided to proceed as planned.'"

When they conducted the interior walkthrough, Tsunoda expected it to be just as it was at the time of the crime, but it was neatly cleared out. After the police finished processing the crime scene, Tamiya had cleaned it all up by himself.

"'To be honest, I can't even stand stepping inside this house...'"

Tamiya had murmured that softly with his back turned to Tsunoda's crew in the living room. That line left a strangely lingering impression on Tsunoda.

They signed the contract, finalized the schedule, and set the actual demolition date for one month after the walkthrough. People usually assume demolition starts with heavy equipment right off the bat, but that's not how it works. As I learned, the process begins with manually removing fixtures and interior materials. Home appliances and personal belongings are cleared out at this stage, too; Tsunoda explained that strict environmental laws require everything to be sorted and dismantled separately.

Once the work began, Tamiya was there from day one, standing outside and watching the process from start to finish every single day. Tsunoda warned him that it was dangerous due to hauling out cleared debris, but Tamiya would simply shift his spot and keep watching.

"'During our chats, he mentioned that he and his wife hadn't been getting along so well. But that was only right before the incident, and overall they'd been doing great. Tamiya-san said his kids were sweet, obedient children. He said he'd built that house full of hope, wanting his family to be happy. Knowing how he felt, my heart just sank for the guy.'"

Finally, the day arrived to bring in the heavy machinery. Spotting Tamiya watching as usual, Tsunoda went over to let him know they were about to start tearing down the house itself.

"'So... the house is really going to be gone, huh...?'"

Tamiya stared sorrowfully at the house packed with his memories. Finding no words to comfort him, Tsunoda bowed respectfully and returned to work. A backhoe operated by a young worker was positioning to begin the tear-down. The arm raised, and the bucket began crunching loudly into the second floor.

"'I've been on countless demolition sites in my life. But that... that was the first time I ever felt such a suffocating tightness in my chest.'"

Lost in those thoughts while watching the process, Tsunoda noticed the house was about half destroyed when it happened.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHGHHHGHHHGHHH!"

A bloodcurdling scream shattered the air from behind him. Tsunoda whipped around to see Tamiya sprinting toward the house with terrifying speed.

"Tamiya-san! It's dangerous! Stop!"

Deaf to Tsunoda's shouts, Tamiya vanished straight into the collapsing house. Yet, despite Tamiya running inside, the backhoe showed no sign of stopping its destruction.

"Hey! Stop it! Stop the machine! STOP!"

Tsunoda yelled frantically at his employee to stop the backhoe. Perhaps deafened by the engine noise, the worker didn't stop right away.

"You idiot! Someone went inside! I told you to stop!"

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Tsunoda finally got the worker's attention.

"Boss, what's wrong?"

"'What's wrong?!' Someone just ran into the house!"

"Huh? Are you serious? I honestly didn't notice anyone."

"Don't give me that 'didn't notice' crap! Shut the engine off and get down here!"

Tsunoda barked at the driver, gathered the rest of his crew, and rushed toward the structure. The house was literally half-demolished; all he could do was pray that Tamiya hadn't been crushed under the rubble.

"Tamiya-san! Hey! Tamiya-san! Are you alright? Answer me if you can hear me!"

He shouted desperately into the dust, but received no response. As he kept calling out again and again, one of the crew members approached him.

"Boss, what came over you all of a sudden?"

"The owner just ran into the house screaming, didn't he?!"

"Huh...? No... I didn't see anyone."

Starting with that worker's words, every single crew member raised their voices in confusion. None of them had seen anyone run inside.

"There's a whole crew of you here—how could not one of you have seen him? That guy who's been standing by the entrance watching us ever since we started today! That guy!"

"Was someone... actually there...?"

"Not just today! The guy who's been watching us every single day since we started this tear-down!"

"Boss... please stop saying scary stuff like that. There wasn't anyone there..."

Every single employee present swore up and down that they had never seen Tamiya.

"Right then, a violent chill ran through my entire body. They were telling me that not a single one of my guys had ever seen Tamiya-san, the guy who'd been standing there watching us this whole time. I asked them, 'You saw me talking to him sometimes, didn't you?' And they all said, 'We just thought you were wandering outside the lot to take a breather once in a while.' That's what every single one of them told me."

Utterly bewildered by the terrifying situation, Tsunoda called the police and an ambulance just in case, reporting that a resident might have been caught in the house demolition.

Police, paramedics, and firefighters arrived on the scene almost immediately. Tsunoda explained everything that had happened in painstaking detail. Officers and firefighters approached the half-wrecked home to investigate.

"About thirty minutes after they arrived, an older police officer called me over. He asked me about the person who supposedly ran into the house, so I told him it was Tamiya-san, the owner of the house. But the officer just gave me this strange, puzzled look. That was the moment I realized something was terribly wrong. Then, looking like he really didn't want to say it, the officer started explaining.

'I'm not trying to doubt you,' he prefaced,

'but Tamiya-san, the owner of this house... committed suicide about three weeks ago.'

...And then he asked me, 'Are you sure you aren't mistaking him for someone else?' Hearing that completely fried my brain..."

The police didn't share the details beyond telling him that Tamiya had passed away. Tsunoda found out later that Tamiya had hanged himself in a nearby wooded area. Apparently, Fukuda hadn't known about it either; it turned out Tamiya had died shortly after signing the contract.

"Fukuda-san actually came to the site once during the prep phase, too. He talked with Tamiya-san for a bit back then. I mean, only Fukuda-san and I ever saw Tamiya-san, but we were having normal, everyday conversations with him, man! I still can't bring myself to believe that was a ghost."

Listening up to that point, I ventured a rather distasteful question: What happened to the demolition fee? Tsunoda replied that the payment had been transferred right after the contract was signed, so he hadn't been stiffed, and he expressed gratitude to Tamiya for that.

"'I've worked on all kinds of demolition sites, but man, that was the first time a job left such a horrible taste in my mouth. Obviously part of it was the backstory itself, but more than anything, I can't forget Tamiya-san's expression when we did that site walkthrough together. You could tell how deeply he still cared for his family. He kept saying things like, 'If only I hadn't gone on that business trip that day...' just filled with regret. The guy who said he couldn't even stand stepping into that house... I guess in the end, he wanted to go out together with the home full of his memories.

And get this—Fukuda-san told me later that Tamiya-san had kept paying off the mortgage on that house even after his family died. I don't know how he scraped together the money after quitting his job, but I guess he wanted to save the house at the very least. But he couldn't hold out forever. Apparently, he was drowning in massive debt when he died. Fukuda-san said Tamiya-san must have finally hit a wall and had nowhere left to turn.'"

Tsunoda had a deeply sorrowful look on his face as he finished speaking, which left a strong impression on me.

As an epilogue to the story: after the lot was cleared, a major homebuilder constructed four spec houses on the property. Since it was on the outer edge of a popular area, the prices were set slightly lower, and all four houses sold out in a flash. Local residents avoided the spot, calling it "that cursed place," but to buyers who didn't know the history, it looked like a great deal.

However, less than a year after all four houses were occupied, two of them were put back up for sale. Buyers were found quickly, but those new owners moved out in under a year as well. Of the original four homes, only one family has remained long-term, and currently, two of the four houses sit completely vacant. According to Fukuda, whatever is going on might not even be about Tamiya at all—the land itself might be tainted.

"'Most of us in the demolition business actually care a lot about ground-breaking ceremonies and rituals like that. I mean, it's terrifying if something goes wrong, and there are tons of guys in our industry who brushed that stuff off and learned their lesson the hard way. Fortunately, we didn't have any physical accidents on that job. But hey, if you like scary stories, you'd better keep that in mind.'"

With those words, Tsunoda brought his story to an end.