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

bccdb
 z
 dfdeed
 aab
 y
 abac

#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
int n, m, i, j, l, r, k, l1, l2, t1, t2;
string st;
bool x1, x2;
char ans[1000005];
string sb, ta, sa, tb;
int main() {
  ios::sync_with_stdio(false);
  ;
  cin >> sa;
  sort(sa.begin(), sa.end());
  cin >> sb;
  sort(sb.begin(), sb.end());
  reverse(sb.begin(), sb.end());
  n = sa.length();
  l = 1;
  r = n;
  memset(ans, '_', sizeof(ans));
  for (j = 1; j <= n; j += 2) {
    if (sa[l1] < sb[l2] && !x1) {
      ans[l++] = sa[l1++];
    } else {
      if (!x1) {
        x1 = 1;
        for (k = j; k <= n; k += 2) {
          ta.push_back(sa[l1++]);
        }
        sort(ta.begin(), ta.end());
        reverse(ta.begin(), ta.end());
      }
      ans[r--] = ta[t1++];
    }
    if (j + 1 >= n && n % 2) break;
    if (sa[l1] < sb[l2] && !x2) {
      ans[l++] = sb[l2++];
    } else {
      if (!x2) {
        x2 = 1;
        for (k = j + 1; k <= n; k += 2) {
          tb.push_back(sb[l2++]);
        }
        sort(tb.begin(), tb.end());
      }
      ans[r--] = tb[t2++];
    }
  }
  for (i = 1; i <= n; i++) cout << ans[i];
  return 0;
}
