Cancellation fee before signing a rental contract

Hi, I’m currently in the process of apartment hunting in Tokyo, where I recently stumbled over 2 listings. I applied for both of them, got accepted to both, and opted to choose one that was closer to the train station. I have since signed a contract for the apartment. However, the other one I applied to is asking for a cancellation fee of 10,000 yen despite me never signing a contract for that unit. Am I legally obligated to give into this? From my perspective, I never signed a contract, therefore I shouldn’t need to give this other realty company anything. Please advise. Thank you