bcdef
abbbc
 z
y
 reddit
abcdef
 abc
aaa
 y
z
 cbxz
aaaa

bccdb
 z
 dfdeed
 aab
 y
 abac

# ---------------------------iye ha aam zindegi---------------------------------------------
import math
import heapq, bisect
import sys
from collections import deque, defaultdict
from fractions import Fraction
import sys

mod = 10 ** 9 + 7
mod1 = 998244353
# sys.setrecursionlimit(300000)
# ------------------------------warmup----------------------------
import os
import sys
from io import BytesIO, IOBase

BUFSIZE = 8192


# sys.setrecursionlimit(300000)
class FastIO(IOBase):
    newlines = 0

    def __init__(self, file):
        self._fd = file.fileno()
        self.buffer = BytesIO()
        self.writable = "x" in file.mode or "r" not in file.mode
        self.write = self.buffer.write if self.writable else None

    def read(self):
        while True:
            b = os.read(self._fd, max(os.fstat(self._fd).st_size, BUFSIZE))
            if not b:
                break
            ptr = self.buffer.tell()
            self.buffer.seek(0, 2), self.buffer.write(b), self.buffer.seek(ptr)
        self.newlines = 0
        return self.buffer.read()

    def readline(self):
        while self.newlines == 0:
            b = os.read(self._fd, max(os.fstat(self._fd).st_size, BUFSIZE))
            self.newlines = b.count(b"\n") + (not b)
            ptr = self.buffer.tell()
            self.buffer.seek(0, 2), self.buffer.write(b), self.buffer.seek(ptr)
        self.newlines -= 1
        return self.buffer.readline()

    def flush(self):
        if self.writable:
            os.write(self._fd, self.buffer.getvalue())
            self.buffer.truncate(0), self.buffer.seek(0)


class IOWrapper(IOBase):
    def __init__(self, file):
        self.buffer = FastIO(file)
        self.flush = self.buffer.flush
        self.writable = self.buffer.writable
        self.write = lambda s: self.buffer.write(s.encode("ascii"))
        self.read = lambda: self.buffer.read().decode("ascii")
        self.readline = lambda: self.buffer.readline().decode("ascii")


sys.stdin, sys.stdout = IOWrapper(sys.stdin), IOWrapper(sys.stdout)
input = lambda: sys.stdin.readline().rstrip("\r\n")


# -------------------game starts now----------------------------------------------------import math
# -----------------------------------------------binary seacrh tree---------------------------------------
# -------------------game starts now----------------------------------------------------import math
class SegmentTree:
    def __init__(self, data, default=0, func=lambda a, b: max(a , b)):
        """initialize the segment tree with data"""
        self._default = default
        self._func = func
        self._len = len(data)
        self._size = _size = 1 << (self._len - 1).bit_length()

        self.data = [default] * (2 * _size)
        self.data[_size:_size + self._len] = data
        for i in reversed(range(_size)):
            self.data[i] = func(self.data[i + i], self.data[i + i + 1])

    def __delitem__(self, idx):
        self[idx] = self._default

    def __getitem__(self, idx):
        return self.data[idx + self._size]

    def __setitem__(self, idx, value):
        idx += self._size
        self.data[idx] = value
        idx >>= 1
        while idx:
            self.data[idx] = self._func(self.data[2 * idx], self.data[2 * idx + 1])
            idx >>= 1

    def __len__(self):
        return self._len

    def query(self, start, stop):
        if start == stop:
            return self.__getitem__(start)
        stop += 1
        start += self._size
        stop += self._size

        res = self._default
        while start < stop:
            if start & 1:
                res = self._func(res, self.data[start])
                start += 1
            if stop & 1:
                stop -= 1
                res = self._func(res, self.data[stop])
            start >>= 1
            stop >>= 1
        return res

    def __repr__(self):
        return "SegmentTree({0})".format(self.data)


# -------------------------------iye ha chutiya zindegi-------------------------------------
class Factorial:
    def __init__(self, MOD):
        self.MOD = MOD
        self.factorials = [1, 1]
        self.invModulos = [0, 1]
        self.invFactorial_ = [1, 1]

    def calc(self, n):
        if n <= -1:
            print("Invalid argument to calculate n!")
            print("n must be non-negative value. But the argument was " + str(n))
            exit()
        if n < len(self.factorials):
            return self.factorials[n]
        nextArr = [0] * (n + 1 - len(self.factorials))
        initialI = len(self.factorials)
        prev = self.factorials[-1]
        m = self.MOD
        for i in range(initialI, n + 1):
            prev = nextArr[i - initialI] = prev * i % m
        self.factorials += nextArr
        return self.factorials[n]

    def inv(self, n):
        if n <= -1:
            print("Invalid argument to calculate n^(-1)")
            print("n must be non-negative value. But the argument was " + str(n))
            exit()
        p = self.MOD
        pi = n % p
        if pi < len(self.invModulos):
            return self.invModulos[pi]
        nextArr = [0] * (n + 1 - len(self.invModulos))
        initialI = len(self.invModulos)
        for i in range(initialI, min(p, n + 1)):
            next = -self.invModulos[p % i] * (p // i) % p
            self.invModulos.append(next)
        return self.invModulos[pi]

    def invFactorial(self, n):
        if n <= -1:
            print("Invalid argument to calculate (n^(-1))!")
            print("n must be non-negative value. But the argument was " + str(n))
            exit()
        if n < len(self.invFactorial_):
            return self.invFactorial_[n]
        self.inv(n)  # To make sure already calculated n^-1
        nextArr = [0] * (n + 1 - len(self.invFactorial_))
        initialI = len(self.invFactorial_)
        prev = self.invFactorial_[-1]
        p = self.MOD
        for i in range(initialI, n + 1):
            prev = nextArr[i - initialI] = (prev * self.invModulos[i % p]) % p
        self.invFactorial_ += nextArr
        return self.invFactorial_[n]


class Combination:
    def __init__(self, MOD):
        self.MOD = MOD
        self.factorial = Factorial(MOD)

    def ncr(self, n, k):
        if k < 0 or n < k:
            return 0
        k = min(k, n - k)
        f = self.factorial
        return f.calc(n) * f.invFactorial(max(n - k, k)) * f.invFactorial(min(k, n - k)) % self.MOD


# --------------------------------------iye ha combinations ka zindegi---------------------------------
def powm(a, n, m):
    if a == 1 or n == 0:
        return 1
    if n % 2 == 0:
        s = powm(a, n // 2, m)
        return s * s % m
    else:
        return a * powm(a, n - 1, m) % m


# --------------------------------------iye ha power ka zindegi---------------------------------
def sort_list(list1, list2):
    zipped_pairs = zip(list2, list1)

    z = [x for _, x in sorted(zipped_pairs)]

    return z


# --------------------------------------------------product----------------------------------------
def product(l):
    por = 1
    for i in range(len(l)):
        por *= l[i]
    return por


# --------------------------------------------------binary----------------------------------------
def binarySearchCount(arr, n, key):
    left = 0
    right = n - 1

    count = 0

    while (left <= right):
        mid = int((right + left) / 2)

        # Check if middle element is
        # less than or equal to key
        if (arr[mid] <=key):
            count = mid + 1
            left = mid + 1

        # If key is smaller, ignore right half
        else:
            right = mid - 1

    return count


# --------------------------------------------------binary----------------------------------------
def countdig(n):
    c = 0
    while (n > 0):
        n //= 10
        c += 1
    return c


def binary(x, length):
    y = bin(x)[2:]
    return y if len(y) >= length else "0" * (length - len(y)) + y


def countGreater(arr, n, k):
    l = 0
    r = n - 1

    # Stores the index of the left most element
    # from the array which is greater than k
    leftGreater = n

    # Finds number of elements greater than k
    while (l <= r):
        m = int(l + (r - l) / 2)
        if (arr[m] >= k):
            leftGreater = m
            r = m - 1

        # If mid element is less than
        # or equal to k update l
        else:
            l = m + 1

    # Return the count of elements
    # greater than k
    return (n - leftGreater)


# --------------------------------------------------binary------------------------------------
s=list(input())
n1=len(s)
t=list(input())
s.sort()
t.sort(reverse=True)
s=s[:int(math.ceil(n1/2))]
t=t[:n1//2]
cou=0
cou1=len(s)-1
cou2=0
cou3=len(t)-1
cou4=0
cou5=n1-1
ans=['']*n1
tw=0
n=n1
for i in range(n):
    if i==n-1 and n%2==1:
        ans[cou4] = s[cou]
        cou4 += 1
        cou += 1
    elif i==n-1 and n%2==0:
        ans[cou4] = t[cou2]
        cou4 += 1
        cou2 += 1
    elif tw%2==0:
        if s[cou]>=t[cou2]:
            ans[cou5]=s[cou1]
            cou5-=1
            cou1-=1
        else:
            ans[cou4]=s[cou]
            cou4+=1
            cou+=1
    else:
        if t[cou2]<=s[cou]:
            ans[cou5] = t[cou3]
            cou5 -= 1
            cou3 -= 1
        else:
            ans[cou4] = t[cou2]
            cou4 += 1
            cou2 += 1
    tw=1-tw
print(*ans,sep="")
