On August 12, 1961, construction of the Berlin Wall began, marking the rise of the Cold War.
However, this did not affect the arrival of Catherine's films in Europe and West Germany.
To be precise, her films performed quite well at the box office.
In any case, Catherine was finally ready to leave her mark—but just then, Time magazine contacted her.
In the twenty-first century, Time magazine was a household name.
When she heard the news, Catherine was thrilled.
However, she quickly calmed herself.
And soon she realized that this might also be an opportunity.
During this period, Catherine didn't sit idle.
Buying a Barbie doll was troublesome; she might as well build her own toy factory. Even if it failed, she could always switch to producing Transformers.
Catherine planned for this factory to eventually become a manufacturer of role-playing games for her.
Not just Harry Potter—she even considered other games. All of these ideas were things she was actively thinking about.
The general version of the rules was complete, and the basic character and monster models were finished.
However, so far, the locations Catherine had designed were limited to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with the addition of the dungeons and the Forbidden Forest.
But with experience, things would become much easier, so the professional version would be fairly straightforward.
Oh—and there was also GameTV.
GameTV was about to open up an entirely new market, and everything was ready. Catherine's application for her company was also prepared; only the final step remained. Then Time magazine came to interview her—a golden opportunity.
So, on the eve of the new school term, Catherine accepted the interview.
The reporter was a woman in her late thirties who seemed very approachable. Perhaps Time thought that a kind woman would be better suited to interacting with children.
In any case, the interview began.
Of course, Emma stayed with Catherine—after all, a legal guardian couldn't be absent.
As for Catherine's parents, they were also quite surprised.
However, compared to before, one could say they had developed a certain level of "immunity."
It started when they accompanied Catherine to register her integrated circuit patent.
Imagine a ten-year-old girl proudly presenting a high-tech patent that even her parents didn't fully understand—what kind of expressions would those parents have?
Fortunately, Catherine had shown extraordinary maturity from a very young age, as evidenced by her early AP exam scores.
"Miss Kate, I did quite a bit of research on you before coming here. I found that you're a very magical girl—perhaps, like in your novels, you really are a girl with magic."
"Do you think the title 'magical girl' suits me?" Catherine joked.
"In my research, I also found that you hold some rather… unusual patents at the patent office, especially those related to integrated circuits. It's said that two years ago, Texas Instruments and Fairchild almost went to court over this, but then discovered the patent had already been registered—apparently shortly after Fairchild was founded. You would have been about ten years old at the time?"
"Yes," Catherine said, seeming to recall the incident. "Fairchild contacted me, but I granted them a free license for the patent."
After all, even though she owned the patent, she couldn't keep it hidden—otherwise, she might have become responsible for delaying historical progress. Besides, Catherine herself hoped to be able to play with computers as soon as possible.
Although Fairchild found it unbelievable that a ten-year-old girl owned an integrated circuit patent, Catherine's free license was a huge help to them.
Perhaps because there was less conflict with Texas Instruments, the lawsuit that historically dragged on for ten years never really materialized, and as a result, the company's development seemed even better than before.
"Then I discovered that you wrote a book called Harry Potter. What was your original motivation for writing it?"
"At the time, I was wondering whether the world really was the way we imagine it. Why had magic and things like that never appeared? So I started imagining what a world with magic would be like. I even created a game to go along with the book, and I'm considering releasing it later."
The reporter nodded.
"I know about that too. It seems to be a TRPG? I heard that a demo version of the game was included with the hardcover edition of The Prisoner of Azkaban. To be honest, I'm also a loyal reader of yours."
Is this reporter really a fan of my books?
Hey—that's interesting.
"Yes. I originally planned to release this TRPG in September or earlier, but now that might not be possible."
"The Blair Witch Project was very well done."
"No, actually, I didn't have much time to film it. I was mainly working on something else."
"What was that?"
"GameTV!"
Here came the main event.
Catherine led the reporter to her room, where she took out her latest video game television design.
It was already complete.
"This is—!"
"This is…"
The reporter looked confused.
Catherine turned on the TV, connected the controller, and switched to game mode. A colorful game of Emma Blocks appeared on the screen.
"This is a video game. In my opinion, the future of entertainment is constantly moving toward virtual experiences. From video games like this to simulation games, we'll be able to do anything without leaving our homes!"
"That sounds… very impressive."
What is a video game?
Even in the 1960s, most Americans had no idea.
In any case, Catherine successfully captured the reporter's attention. By the end of the interview, Catherine knew she had succeeded.
However, Catherine didn't focus on the video game television, since producing it would require a huge investment. She decided to first establish her company and plan everything out… actual production wouldn't begin until at least next year. Developing a TRPG, on the other hand, was much simpler.
For now, Catherine shifted her focus back to Harry Potter.
Even the toy company was named "Hogwarts."
That was her current priority; Catherine was mainly "conquering" that territory.
To match the atmosphere, Time magazine's headline for Catherine's interview was rather amusing:
"Catherine, the Magical Girl?"
Catherine was genuinely embarrassed.
But, of course—she had said it herself.